What is she hiding?
by xxCia.Rosaliexx
Summary: Ziva and her 10 year old daughter dropped off the face of the earth 4 years ago, now they mysteriously return. but something is different, find out the bombshells about to be dropped in this story. It has the power to change everything.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do own a stuffed animal! and and an ice cream bar i ate 2 hours ago but i most certainly do NOT own NCIS. but i do own the character Kristiana.

A/N: This is my first story in i would say 4 years. I used to writer 24/7 but i do not anymore, just letting you know i rarely use contractions. My teacher hates them. But anyway

just so you are not lost, when Ziva started working at NCIS in 2005, she had a 7 year old daughter named Kristiana, meaning she was 19 when Kristiana was born. Ziva left Washington D.C

when Kristiana was 10.

~Ziva's P.O.V~

A Letter To Tony.

Dear Tony,

If you ever read this, do you remember the first day i walked into NCIS with Kristiana? I do, i brought her in because i had to talk to Gibbs.

I was not thinking when i brought her with me, forgetting you and mcgee would be there. Well i remember walking in and seeing your face,

you were thinking 'who is that?' and so was mcgee and gibbs, but Gibbs was the only one with enough guts to ask who the 7 year old girl on my hip was.

When I said she was my daughter i practically saw you trying to do calculations in your head of how old i was when she was born. Before you could finish

i went over and whispered '19' you did not know how to react, but i was used to people acting like that. Well anyway i have not talked to you since i left

4 years ago when Kristiana was 10. I never really explained why i left, Kristiana's father was looking for her. Said he would try and get full custody saying

i was an unfit parent, truth is he is right. Do you remember Kristiana when she was around 8? would not wear anything but a dress and sandals. She was

the total opposite of me at that age. She still is, last year she started being completely distant, i know everyone says teenagers are distant, but not Kristiana.

Kristiana was just 13 when she came down stairs one morning before school with what used to be her beautiful waist long dark brown hair cut to her shoulders

and her lip, nose and eyebrow pierced (they are not fake, although i hoped they were) and she was dressed in all black. That is just the begining, within the next

month she was brought into the NYPD for posession of marajuana and underage drinking at a party, and then 2 months after that i was forced to send her to a

help group for belemia, she is 14 now. I have no idea what set this off Tony but i figured if anybody at NCIS was willing to talk to and help me, it would be you.

I am sorry that i left when i did, but my baby girl needs help, i do not understand how i could let this happen. Well if you decided to open this letter than i will

let you know I am coming back to D.C, i have bought a house. if you are reading this letter after i have returned, you were probably surprised to see me,

but atleast you read the letter, even if i made you. i do not blame you if you are mad, but please help Kristiana.

-Ziva

~Tony's P.O.V~

I see the envelope marked Very Special Agent DiNozzo and i become curious, and then i recognize the writing, Ziva, i quickly scan the envelope for a return address.

Surprisingly there is one, New York? So that is where she was hiding?

~3rd Person~

By the time Tony is done frantically scaning the envelope he has been griping for 5 minutes, he notices he has grabbed McGee's attention.

"uhm, tony. what is it about that envelope that is making you crazy?" is all McGee could say before tony answered

"Ziva. Its from Ziva McNosy. now do you not have some internet wedding to watch?" Tony never let him live down the time he watched his friends wedding via internet.

"NO! but its just, uhm, well, are you going to open it?"

"Should i McGee? is there something you know that i am not aware of?"

"No Tony that is not what i meant. What i meant was it has been 4 years, since we heard from her or Kristiana. What if something is wrong?"

Tony did not have time to answer, Gibbs came into the bullpen, coffee in hand shouting about a dead marine.

It had been a week and Ziva had moved back to Washington D.C with a less than excited Kristiana, and Tony still had not read, much less opened the letter.

~McGee's P.O.V~

It has been a week since tony received that letter from Ziva and he still had not opened it. Why am i even worried about this? she did not write me a letter.

I open up my document that i have the latest chapter of my book saved on, and start to write. That is until Abby instant messages me.

FormerlyHappyGoth: Hey Timmy. is it true Ziva wrote Tony a letter?

McGee_Is_Gemcity: Yes Abby. Tony refuses to open it though...

FormerlyHappyGoth: WHAT? WHY! is he crazy?

FormerlyHappyGoth: MCGEE why are you not answering me? what are you doing?

McGee_Is_Gemcity: Sorry Abs, i am working on the begining of my new book.

McGee_Is_Gemcity: I very recently got inspired...

FormerlyHappyGoth: DO NOT make your new book about them. Tony WILL kill you

McGee_Is_Gemcity: I will not. Thom E. Gemcity might :)

FormerlyHappyGoth: MCGEE! they will hurt you. please do not do it timmy.

(your message could not be sent, McGee_Is_Gemcity is now offline.)

~Ziva's P.O.V~

As I stand in the long line for the metal detectors at NCIS wishing I still had a badge to flash to get around this mob of visitors, even though I guess technically I am one of those visitors now.

I think about how I arrived in D.C a few days ago. The house is just like it looked in the ad. Kristiana seems to like it even if she will not admit it. I finished unpacking yesterday! Kristiana refuses

to unpack. Finally as i am nearing the front of the line it finally registers in my brain, I am going to NCIS with her today. within 20 minutes of reaching the front of the line we passed security with ease.

As we rode up the elevator I was getting nervous, and it didnt help that every 2 seconds i heard The Kiss by Karmina coming from Kristiana's phone, signaling she got a text message from her

bestfriend Cia. I have asked her to turn it on silent or vibrate, she did not answer my request.

This is it, the elevator doors begin to open and i take a deep breath and i walk out of the elevator with Krisitana at my heels, texting on her phone, but navagating perfectly around the other agents

who seem to all be double taking when they saw me. As the bullpen gets into view i can see that Tony, McGee and Gibbs were all seated at their desks doing paperwork. God i do not miss paperwork!

We reach the entrance to the bull pen and the song i have been annoyed by all day blares through the speakers on Kristiana's cellphone, alerting the 3 men in the bullpen somebody had arrived. They all

looked up, their expressions all the identical, recignition and pure shock. I am thinking to myself this is extremely awkward. So I ignore the stares from Tony and McGee and walk directly to Gibbs

just like i had 7 years ago, except this time there was not a 7 year old latching onto my hip, instead there was a 14 year old freely walking behind her with a blackberry practically glued to her palms.

I could read his eyes even though i was getting a little rusty, his eyes were flooded with relief that Kristiana and I were alive after dropping off the face of the earth for 4 years. His eyes were also

filled with confusion, of why i was back after leaving at the drop of a hat, with no explanation and no warning.

I look at Gibbs and he seemed to get it. Well at least i think he did considering the fact he got up and started walking toward the elevator while making a hand gesture signaling me to follow.

With Kristiana still avidly texting i turned around, and used my "ninja skills" as tony called them to temporarily release the blackberry from her hand and told her to stay in the bullpen.

~ 3rd person~

The second the elevator doors shut and the transformation into Gibbs' "conference room" was complete Gibbs gave Ziva a hug and she returned it.

In the squadroom Kristiana had sat down behind Gibbs' desk with her feet on her desk tweeting on twitter and texting Cia. Although she was oblivious to the 6 people watching her, they were all very aware of her. after gibbs and ziva left mcgee had called abby and she had called ducky and palmer and jenny had been on her way to mtac when she saw ziva and kristiana walking towards the bullpen. finally kristiana realized the people she barely recognized staring at her and decided to speak up.

"uhm can i help you?" she asked the crowd of 6 that jumped when she spoke

"Kristiana is that you?" came jenny's voice

"no. its the easter bunny. and its Krista now."

next came tony's voice "what happened to you? you have changed so much"

"you do not know the half of it."

At this moment Ziva and Gibbs walked back into the squad room and Gibbs went to Kristiana tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to come with him. when she did not follow he said in a loud voice " HEY I SAID COME WITH ME"

meanwhile ziva walked over to tony and she didnt give him a chance to talk before she said "read the letter tony, read all of it."

with tony just standing there in a blank, it was Abby who spoke up first, well if you can call it speaking. It was really just a rumbled mush of omg. your back and somehting about chicken? probably not, but after abby's ramble and death squeeze, tim spoke up and unlike abby you could actually decifer his words. it was basically "its nice to see you again ziva." and then he went back to his computer. ziva stared at him for a moment thinking, "i swear to god if he is including this in another one of his books so help me i will dangle him over a pool of parahna's" And then there was Jenny who much like Gibbs motion beckoned her to follow her, except this time it wasnt to the elevator. it was up the steps and accross the catwalk, she could practicly feel all of the agents eyes burning holes in her back.

"Im still a bit shocked" Jenny began "I knew you had written Special Agent DiNozzo a letter, the whole building knew. I knew he didnt open it. I knew you would probably show up here eventually, but Ziva what i did not know when i first saw it was who that girl was down there." Of course she was speaking of Kristiana or Krista (which was now what she was going by)

with an exasperated sigh ziva replied to jenny's comment about her daughter. "yeah thats how i felt when she came down stairs one morning before school with what used to be her beautiful waist long dark brown hair cut to her shoulders and her lip, nose and eyebrow pierced,they are not fake,although i hoped they were and she was dressed in all black. when all she used to wear were those sundresses and capris' oh and cant forget about when i got a call at 2 in the morning saying my daughters bail was being posted at $100,000 for possesion of narcotics." by now ziva was in a panic rant and all jenny did was stare in disbelief

after about 2 minutes of uncomfiturable silence jenny said the only thing that she could make sound remotely sensable. "do you know what brought this on?" and ziva's answer? the pure truth "if i did would i be here?" with that ziva opened the door leading out of the directors office stepped out and let it close with a bang, giving a small yet fake smile to jenny's assistant cynthia ziva was on her way back accross the cat walk and down the steps she had walked oh so many times before she resigned from her position at NCIS.

####.IN THE ELEVATOR.####

Gibbs was pissed. Even that was an understatement. He looked at the teenager in front if his and shook his head. How could this happen in 4 years? well i guess when you miss something, you miss everything.

"Kristiana?" Gibbs finally siad, but her name coming out more like a question then a statment.

The 14 year old didnt even bother to look up, just a robotic response of "Krista" was muttered.

That was it. Gibbs had it. He raised his voice just like he would do when she was 8 years old and was giving Ziva a hard time.

"HEY," That got her attention, "you look at me when i am talking to you. you wanna tell me who you are? cause i sure as hell dont know you."

She answered, but it was the answer of a smartass teenager "the name on the birth certificate is Kristiana. So i guess thats legally my name bu,,,"

She was cut off. Gibbs was fuming or atleast he looked it, " I know what your name is. alright? point is last time i saw you, your hair was long and the only piercing you had was your ears. not those idiotic facial ones"

She came back with the answer of " last time you saw me i was 10. and who cares what you say. your not my mother."

"NO im not your mother, and im not your father, becausae well your mother is out those worried sick and trying to explain why shes back after dropping off the earth for 4 years, and well your fathers a dick head."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Okay thank gosh chapter 1 was sort of not an epic failure. but MORE REVIEWS? i know people say they wnt post if they dnt get so many, but i honestly dont care about numbers. it just lets me know you want me to keep posting.

A/N 2: Hey guys sorry it has taken me so long to post. ive literally been working on it since i last posted in august. but i started high school this year and its been wierd? basically ive been really busy and im working on this in the little time i have, so review? please. im debating weither to continue or write another story.

I OWN NOTHING...except for Kristiana/Krista shes mine, you cant have her!

####SQUADROOM####

Gibbs enters the squadroom to find McGee on his computer. Abby talking to Ziva and Tony reading something, most likely the letter form Ziva he should have read a week ago. Kristiana departs from Gibbs and sits on Ziva's old desk, that has been untouched for the 4 years she has been gone. Something in the corner pinned up caught Kristiana's eye. A picture she drew of squiggly lines that up until the day she left claimed was a kitten.

After a look from Gibbs, Ziva told Abby to take Kristiana down to her lab for a while. even though abby resisted and wanted to be part of the meeting, abby listens to gibbs, especially when theres a caf-pow involved!

All of a sudden Tony opened his desk draw and pulled something out. whatever it was, it was out of view from everyone except Tony. but whatever he was looking at did not hold his attention long because within a moment he was up and accross the bullpen getting ready to say something to Ziva but Gibbs cut him off,

"Alright Ziver, What happened with Kristiana?" Gibbs was cautious when he asked this, he had not seen her in years, he didnt know what changed or basically anything to do with this at the moment.

It took a few moments but ziva began to speak. "well when we moved, she, well she took it hard. she was sad and cried alot, but you would expect that from a 10 year old when her sorry excuse for a mother rips her away from the only family shes ever known."

Tony went to cut in but gibbs cut him off,with a look that just plainly said, let her finish

"she got used to it within a month or two, she made friends went to school. lived like a normal kid. started dancing ballet. she started middle school the next year, walked to school with her friends got straight a's and continued dancing. the teachers said she was "to smart" so they skipped her a grade. she started high school being 13, a year younger than everyone else. she got her first boyfriend. he was an alright kid, played soccer. he was 15. typical first boyfriend story i guess, they hung out alot. they dated for a few months. then it just stopped. not another word. she quit dance. her grades dropped and she turned into the girl down by abby. she turned 14 a few months later. and then school ended in june. and i came here."

Gibbs left to get coffee and most likely think of possibilities of what could have happened.

Once he was gone and ziva was leaning against mcgee's desk that was vacated at some time during the meeting. she had her head hung and sadness in her eyes as she ran her hand through her hair, as a gesture of i have no idea what to do.

Tony walked over to ziva, cautiously at first and then with more assurance. He wrapped his arms around her and she without hesitation placed her head into the crook of his neck, like she was here the past 4 years and nothing had changed, except it had. She was 4 years older, so was he. Her daughter was spinning out of control and she had no idea why, yeah things have changed...for the worst. it was tony who broke the silence after that.

"you know he is writing a book right."

"i know he is dead."

"right. dead agent walking"

###################ABBYS LAB##########################

When McGee walked into Abby's lab she was sitting at her desk with 'Krista' in the chair next to her. This shouldn't seem wierd, but to McGee it does; is this this the same girl that was sitting in Gibbs' desk upstairs giving the whole floor an attitude?

Abby turned around when she heard McGee clear his throat. His look was priceless, shell shocked.  
"Can I help you Timmy?"  
McGee kind of studdered "uh..uh..uhm Gibbs went t..to get coffee and said to keep her..d..down here."  
after the studdered sentance he turned on his heal and left, leaving Abby and the teenager confused but not actually caring.

#################DIRECTOR'S OFFICE####################

Gibbs sat on the couch in the directors office discussing the events of the past 24 hours, Normally when Gibbs was discussing the events of a case it would be forced and he wouldnt want to do it; but this was different, for both of them. It shouldnt be, but it was.

Everyone knew Ziva was basically Gibbs' daughter and that when she left without a word he was devistated. he didnt show it but the ones closest to him knew that he was.

After a whole lot of nothing, no talking; only the sound of the wind occuring outside the 4 walls of the federal building; Gibbs spoke up; 6 words that would sure start a war.

"We need to bring him in."

At first Jenny didnt get it, she didnt know who he was speaking of, and then she realized it didnt matter anyway, both men she was thinking of had to be brought in sooner of later, but there was a problem.

"For what Jethro? we have nothing to go on. For all we know Kristiana got bored of being the good little girl being quiet at the end of the table, always obeying the rules. Jethro i want to figure out what is wrong with my goddaughter just as much as you do, but theres no investigation. We have no idea who Kristiana's father is, only Ziva does and she has no interest in telling us, and even if we did we cant exactly just hit him over the head with a 2x4, put him in your trunk and throw him in an interigation room. We would ALL lose our jobs."

By the end of Jenny's rant Gibbs was furious. Ziva and Kristiana were basically his life before they left, he was her godfather and he would do anything for that girl.

"If this isnt worth losing your job over, i would really like to know what is, because last time i checked Jen, you still felt something for family. You knew Kristiana just as well as i did, you know for a fact she would never in a million years do this without a reason"

She was surprised the force in his voice rivaled her own but this needed to be done, sooner or later.

" Yes Jethro i am aware that last time i saw her she wouldnt but she was 10, shes 14 now. its the 21st century, kids are different these days."

his reply? 3 words.

"Not Ziva's kid."

"We still have no case jethro."

"It really has been to long since you have been an agent Jen. NCIS investigates crimes of the United States Navy, NCIS agents and their families. Last time i checked Kristiana and Ziva apply in 2 of those 3 catagories."

"For what jethro? the sudden change of a teenage girl? that will never stick"

"Fine Director. The drug charges. I believe they came from a local drug ring selling to minors in New York, normally the DEA would take this but since its under NCIS juristiction it is our case."

Jenny smiled, maybe it has been to long since she was doing somehting at NCIS not involving politics, so she smiled and said:

"You've got your case Jethro."

##############################################################################

A/N: please review! 


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY MIND, ACTUALLY WELL NO..THE GOVERNMENT PROBABLY OWNS THAT TOO...I DO NOT AT ALL OWN NCIS AND CONSIDERING THERE WAS NO PRESENT FROM DON BELISARIO 2 WEEKS AGO WHEN I TURNED 15 ITS COMPLETELY HOPELESS**

A/N: let me just say im super bummed right now...i have the major-ist case of writers blocked for a while and im trying my hardest pump out chapters for you, and by the stats i can tell you guys are reading, and yet i have no reviews...which by default is making me conclude that you hate it...leave me some reviews..hate it or love it, get your voice heard. 

A/N 2: i would love to give a mention to Nikki Marie, for hearing me complain about reviews and my constant update texts when the readers go up. and of course dealing with my constant nagging until she reads my new chapter, so Nikki thanks c: 

Also thanks to abby (aka pirate-princess1) through my extremely long writers block i shot you a message back in december and you agreed to help me with ideas, well your message put this chapter out, feel special! oh and vigorously prepare yourself for my constant nagging in the future!

CHAPTER 3

ZIVA'S POV

I have no idea why he is making me sit in this interrogation room like a suspect, i mean nothing ive done since i came to america could get me arrested...well caught then arrested.

_FLASHBACK_

_All you see is Gibbs walking out of Jenny's office looking pretty pleased with himself._

"ZIVA! interrogation room 1 now"  
"bu-"  
"do not interrupt"

And then "McGee get Kristiana from Abby and put her in interrigation 2"

END FLASHBACK

Finally Gibbs entered and sat down with an ezasperated sigh.

"Okay Ziver, tell me who her father is"

I was shocked, I had no idea what to say to this, but i guess i found something because eventually i spoke.

"Gibbs..I..I dont know how this is at all ethical"

He laughed. He laughed, he seriously just laughed?

"I just came from a meeting with the director Ziva, you wanted help for Kristiana and you got it..Director Shepard has agreed to open an investigation

I can not actually believe she agreed to open an investivagtion..."o- on what?" i hear myself say, i have gotten pretty bad at hiding my emotions so of course he sees the shock in my voice.

"She has opened an investigation focusing on Kristiana's exboyfriend and possibly her father."

I cringe. Her father? What did he have to do with any of this?

"why her father gibbs? I have not seen him since he threatened to file for custody, and what are you opening about her ex?"

"Exactly, why did he file? no jury would buy that you were an unfit parent? and he dropped the custody hearing when you left D.C..sounds like he wanted you away from NCIS to me. I suspect her boyfriend is part of a drug ring in NY selling in school" A smirkn was added to the last part of it, because well; he was completely guessing at the drug ring. He took a look at the New York files and picked on that could involve a 15 year old boy.

Thats all I needed to hear, I came here looking for help and i was finally going to get it. "How are we handleing this investigation?"

Gibbs seemed to contemplate what he was saying in his head before he spoke, "Well you have been temporarily re-instated on account of you know the area best and the children. And the team including Abby will leaving for Hudson, NY once you give me the names of Kristiana's ex boyfriend and her father"

"Not going to happen"

"Ziva if you want help you need to give me the name"

I couldnt give him the name, it was going to take much more than him asking nicely

##################INTEROGATION ROOM 2########################

**3rd Person**

Kristiana sits at the interogation room desk, Abby in observation. Tony was getting ready to question anything pertanant to this case,

Tony enters the room and Kristiana straightens. No playing nice; just straight to the chase.

"Krstiana, Director Shepard has decided to open a case coensiding with your recent problems with the law and a drug ring in New York. We will need the name of your exboyfriend"

Kristiana looked shell shocked, and angry at the same time. "Why? He did not do anything to me"

Tony was caught a little off gaurd, he never implied he did anything to Kristiana..he sat down knowing something was off, maybe he was getting like Gibbs with his gut feelings; he knew something happened when these 2 were going out. "I never said he did anything to you Kristiana, I just wanted to know his name to look for any connection for the drug ring..."

Kristiana felt stupid, and scared; she basically just jumped to conclusions and told Tony that he did something to her. It was a name...what damage could it do? "Demitri Polzin"

Tony writes down the name that he was given and moves on with his questioning.

##################INTEROGATION ROOM 1########################

Tony walks in and gives Gibbs a piece of paper; and leaves just as quickly as he came.

Gibbs starts speaking as soon as Tony leaves, ''Ziva, Kristiana just handed over the name of her ex boyfriend, a Demetri Polzin. The sooner we get the name of her father; the sooner we can put faces to names an find out whats going on with your kid"

"He has nothing to do with this, he couldnt have" 

"Why are you so sure?" Gibbs rasied his voice by now

"BECAUSE HE IS IN JAIL" Ziva matched his tone to the pin. " YOU SEE HIM EVERYDAY, YOU DO NOT KNOW IT BUT YOU DO! LOOK AT THE WALL UP THERE WITH 12 PICTURES, HE IS NUMBER 7. "

Gibbs calmed down now, seeing he had upset her, "What wall Ziver? What wall is he on?"

She slowly rasied her head from the suddenly interesting invisible spot on the floor and mumbled just loud enough for his eagle ears to detect "The Most Wanted."

**A/N 3: I know this is a really sorry excuse for a chapter, but i felt it was a nice place to end it.**

**peace, love and reviews.**

**-Cia Rosalie (:**


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS AND SADLY NEVER WILL**

A/N: COMMENT! please? for me...im in a depressing mood, cheer me up?

thanks to pirate-princess1 this chapters on the world wide inter web.

**Chapter 4**

3rd P.O.V

The team sits in the directors office, McGee leaning against the couch, Tony and Ziva on seperate ends of said couch. and Kristiana in the directors chair while she was speaking to Gibbs in the hall. The only sound in the room was the muffled voices of Gibbs and Jenny that managed to get under the door; although it was useless you couldnt tell what was going on.

At the moment Gibbs walked in with Jenny following, " Ziva what town in New York did you live in?"

Ziva's P.O.V

It hits my ears, "What town in New York did you live in?"

_Why does he want to know this? I thought the interogation was over._

"Why Gibbs?"

"Ziva, Just please answer the question, please"

"Hudson"

"Thank you"

He turns away and is now facing the rest of the occupents in the room "Pack your bags we're heading to New York. Cars leave in 3 hours."

At this Tony starts to say something but Gibbs cuts him off, "DiNozzo if you say one thing about a Jet im leaving you in the car with Ziver driving"  
His face was priceless; he never ceased to make me smile.

Kristiana must have just tuned in because her voice could be heard in Mars, "What exactly do you mean the cars leaving in 3 hours, you cant be seriously; youre going to ruin my reputaion there...i cant have all these feds around my friends"

I expected Gibbs to 'blow up' but all he did was smirk and walk out with the reminder of "3 hours people"

#####################3 HOURS LATER#############################

Gibbs P.O.V

_Everyone arrived on time, thank god; now the assignments._

"Hey listen up!"

The team including Abby, Ziva and Kristiana looked up.

"We are taking 3 cars, Abby and Kristiana car 1, Ziva and DiNozzo car 2, McGee with me"

####################ZIVA AND TONY'S CAR###############

Tony's P.O.V

Its been an hour and not a word has been said between us. I cant take it anymore, I need to say it.

"You know i blamed myself..."  
She turned around slowly face full of confusion and spoke slowly and hushed, "What are you talking about Tony?"

I took a deep breath and answered again, "When you left, I blamed myself"

Confusion turned into shock and she was at a loss for words, finally she found the strength and answered " Why would you blame yourself Tony? The decision was mine and mine alone."

Maybe I was being stupid but either way it had to come out " Maybe because you didnt show up that night Ziva, it was 1 month Ziva, One month we made it with neither of us running away from ourselves and one month without being discovered. And then you dont show up and i didnt hear from you for years, not a 'oh hey im still alive, didnt get killed wandering the world' call nothing. It always ran through my head of what-ifs, what if she woulda stayed, what if i hadnt given up trying to find you, what if we didnt start this whole dating thing? would she still have been here?"  
She silenced me with words "You searched for me Tony? you looked for me after I left?"  
I gave her the first answer that popped into my head, "Everyday for 2 years Ziva, but you dropped off the face of the earth, No listing for David's buying any houses or plane,train or bus tickets; NOTHING. God Zee i even searched the alias's from McGee's book."

"You looked under the wrong name Tony." That was all she said. I needed more, theres no way i could leave it at that.

"What name was it under Zee, what other possibility could it possibly be? I searched every variation of your name that came to mind"

Her smirk was captivating, and i remembered how i fell for her the day she walked into NCIS "DiNozzo"

I was in awe, "but why, why my last name?"

"Because Tony; i was never going to run from you, i was dressed and everything for that night and then it happened and i had to go; I had no choice, And putting your last name on the lease proved to me that once it all was over I was going to come back..and then it never did"

And i did the only thing possible i kissed her. Thank heavens we were at a stop light.

#############ABBY AND KRISTIANA'S CAR#########################

3rd Person P.O.V

The ride up was quiet so far, except for Abby's music. Kristiana was writing in a notebook basically the whole way, writing and crossing out, and then mouthing words to herself.

Another metal song came on when Kristiana spoke, "Can you please turn that off, im trying to concentrate"

"Well that depends, what are you doing." Abby had gotten curious by now and really wanted to know.

"Writing something, what does it look like?" Krista edge coming off in every word

Abby needed to know what was going on "Care to share?"  
"Will it make you turn off the music?"

"Yes"  
"Fine, Im writing a song."

"You and good?"

"I like to think so"

"Wanna sing it for me?"

"Its not finished yet."

"So? Sing what you have"

It was wierd, it was like Kristiana only let up around Abby. With that Kristiana began to sing **(A/N I do not own this song, all rights go to The writers)**

_"I know we don't belong _

_Everyone says it's wrong _

_We come from different ways _

_So I tried to erase everything that I felt _

_That I felt._

_But then you kissed me and suddenly I don't care any more _

_Something in me tells me you're the one I'm looking for _

_But then you kissed me and suddenly I don't care any more _

_Something in me tells me you're the one I'm looking for _

_From the KISS _

_From the KISS_

I know its not finished yet, but i think its a good start, its different from the rest."

Abby was astonished, this 14 year old girl that sat next to her had the voice of 'an angel' and wrote so beautifly.

"Who was that about? It was beautiful"

"Demetri. Its just kind of our story, yanno?" then she added on a low whisper "well the beginning at least..."

Abby though she heard a mumble after she stopped talking "What was that?"

"oh nothing"

For the next 5 minutes it was quiet; and then Kristiana screamed "TURN"

Abby was stunned and just asked "What?"

"TURN BEFORE YOU MISS THE STREET, NOW! MAKE A LEFT"

Abby obeyed, and in a row her car and the 2 behind her made sharp left turns while Kristiana had the biggest smile on her face for once.

Another few minutes passed with Kristiana shouting directions and Abby following into a high scale neighborhood, and a final direction was uttered "STOP".

#############OUTSIDE THE CARS################################

3rd P.O.V

Gibbs was first out of his car, "Abby where the hell are we?"

"Gibbs i have no idea, ask her"

"Kristiana where the hell are we?"

She muttered one word while fishing something out of her pocket "Home" and then she was gone, running up the driveway and unlocking the front door.

Gibbs turned to Ziva with a confused look on his face, "What does she mean home?"

Ziva sighed and hoped she would be able to avoid this subject all together; "She means exactly what she says; home. this is where ive lived for the past 4 years"

It was Tony's turn to be stunned "This? This house is huge, I cant wait to see inside"

"DiNozzo, Hotel not Ziva's house, lets go"

Now it was Zivas turn to speak up "No were staying here, so are you. Lets go theres enough room for everyone; like tony said its huge."

At this moment McGee decided to walk out of the car holding a paper in his hand and sporting a very very confused look on his face, "Uhm guys whose house is this?"

Ziva rolled her eyes and gave him a short answer "Mine"

One of McGee's eyebrows shot up and one stayed normal, "Then why is it under the name DiNozzo? a Ms. Ziva DiNoz-oh." His face was priceless.

Gibbs head snapped towards the 2 agents, short and sweet question "You 2 married?"

Tony and Ziva looked towards eachother and shared an oh shit were caught look, she was the first to speak though. "No" One word answer; short and sweet just like the question.

She took off with her bags up the driveway instructing the others to follow.  
############INSIDE THE HOUSE###################################

The entrance dumped them into the Living Room, like predicted it was huge.

Ziva was the first to speak; "So you want a tour? Ill show you to your rooms"

Tony was still in awe over the living room. it was his dream; there was a black leather wrap around couch with throw pillows and a clear glass coffee table; and a television built into the wall, and a built in fireplace that was lined with hundreds of dvd's. Ziva and Gibbs basically had to pull him away.

They walked a long hallway into the foyer to find a double staircase, They climbed the stairs with their bags and hit Gibbs's room first, It was simple, tan walls with a double bed, a dresser and a tv and a coffee pot on the night stand.  
Next was McGee's room, the same double bed and dresser but this time there was a larger television that doubled as a computer with about 20 different games on each side.

Abby's room was next, a double wide coffin and a huge stereo with countless metal cd's.

Finally they hit Tony's; it was a double bed with a dresser and a whole wall lined with movies and a popcorn machine; and in the closet there were a few hawaiin shirt, he was shock it seems to have been designed for him.

"Ziva, Why do all these rooms fit all our personalities? I mean the music, the movies, the coffee maker, the geek station? and the hawaiin shirts? they cant just be guest rooms."  
"I told you i never forgot about you guys"

With that she was off, and her final words in the square of rooms. "Meet me in the kitchen after you unpack"

###################KITCHEN#####################################

Ziva stood in the kitchen waiting for the others when her phone rang.

"Hello" 

"Hey uhm how do you get to the kitchen..." It was tony.

Ziva couldnt help but laugh, they got lost in her house " Come out of your room, make a right"

"okay"

"down the hallway"

"mkay" 

"down the stairs, make a left through the living room"

"okay"

"make a right down the small hall and turn in"

"i see you"

The kitchen was huge, it had sparkling black tiled floors, polished wood cabinets and an island surrounded by barstools, and then in another outcove there was a dining room table to seat six.

They adults sat and spoke about what would happen in the upcoming days and eventually it was 7pm and they were getting hungry, they were stuck between chinese and pizza, they decided to see what Kristiana wanted for the breaker.

"Ill go get her" Tony offered.

"Okay, its just when you go up the stairs instead of making a right make a left, 4th door on the right."

"Got it" Tony memorized the route in his head.

######################KRISTIANAS ROOM#########################

Tony arrived at Kristiana's room and knocked; nothing like invading a girls room without knocking; especially a teenaged girl.

"Kristiana you in there?"

No answer so he opened the door surprised by what he found, he saw a room painted lavender with a double bed with the spread purple, a while and lavender desk in the window with a desk chair (also variations of purple) and a lounger in the corner that seemed to have sprouted feathers. It seems that there wasnt anytime for her to 'Krista-fy' her room. But thats besides the point, he was standing in the middle of Kristianas room and there was no Kristiana. He decided to call Ziva.

"Ziva..."

"Yes Tony?"

"Shes not here"

"What do you mean not there?"

"I mean she is not in her purple infested room"

"Check the pool"

"You guys dont have a pool in your backyard unless its invisible"

"Tony go out of her room, make a left"

"Where are you taking me"

"Just do what i say Tony, now go down the hall and open the black sliding door"

"who has a black sliding door ziva? really"

"tony just do it, now open the elevator inside the doors and hit P"

"Woah you guys have an elevator! why P? Oh crap indoor poool!"

"Is she there?"

"No"

**A/N: So if you reached the bottom that hopefully means you read it all!**

**Please comment and critique, I love hearing from you.**

**I already have the next chapter basically written so if i get the total reviews up to 20 ill post before next monday!**

**oh and theres a story banner and house phone links on my profile!**

**ENJOY!**

**-Cia Rosalie**


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER: NOT MINE AND NEVER WILL BE.**

A/N: Sorry guys! its been over 2 months :( but i have an explanation...my computer crashed and the chapter was on there...so heres the rewrite.

**Chapter 5**

Ziva P.O.V

The realization hit my ears like a ton of bricks; she snuck out again. She escaped a house of Federal Agents without being noticed, given we werent expecting it but still the girl was good. She was my daughter.

"Uh Ziva are you there?"

"Yes Tony?" Guess I zoned out for a bit.

"I said do you know where she would have went?"

I was about to answer him but McGee cut us off.

"Found Her!"

McGee must have seen the confusion written on my face because he explain in terms even Gibbs could understand...

"I inserted a standard tracking device on her phone while we were back at NCIS"

I should have known he would do that, in the next moment all you hear is Gibbs; "Waiting for an invitation McGee? Spit it out, Where is she?"

"245 Ryder Street, Layla's Cafe"

"Good job McGee Lets Go"

############LAYLAS CAFE####################

3rd P.O.V

The team minus Abby walked into the small almost unrecognizeable cafe only to find it crowded with a bunch of people as a voice clouded over the sound system.

Thinking like an investigator Ziva pulls out a picture of Kristiana and starts asking if anybody has seen this girl. A few dozen no's later the owner approaches the team.

"Can I help you? Im Layla Matthews; owner"

"Uhm Yes actually have you seen this girl?"

"Why are you looking for Krista?"

"Shes my daughter; are you saying shes here?"

"She was one of my regulars; she missed a few weeks though shes up on stage"

With that Layla Matthews walks away with Ziva shouting after her "What do you mean on stage." Layla points to the back corner of the cafe where most of the people are crowded around and no stage can be seen but it is clearly where the voice is radiating from.

At this point Gibbs and McGee had been unaware of the tip to where Kristiana was since Gibbs had gone to get coffee and McGee had showing another picture to a different part of the crowd. Ziva had pushed through the crowd with Tony trailing behind her, she was pushing closer to the stage and the voice became louder; she remembered the voice but she couldnt place it...

The 4 agents reached the stage at the same time; in different locations and stared in disbelief at what they saw, Kristiana in the middle of the stage; singing her heart out like she owned it. It wasn't Kristiana but it wasnt Krista either, kind of like a happy medium; she wore light blue skinny jeans, a white tank top, a brown leather studded bomber jacket and gladiator sandals; with her tair falling in curled cascades down her back.

Apparently it was Karaoke night and Kristiana just finshed her song; the attracted crowd sounded their approval and chanted 'encore' as Kristiana looked at Layla and Layla nodded, it looked like it had been done 100 times before. Kristiana got ready to start another song and glanced down at her Ziva and Tony before she started to speak; it was her sign that she knew they were there. What happened next would only be believed if it was witnessed, pretty much describing the whole night.

" Alright guys, settle down. Please quiet down..."

After a few seconds the crowd quieted and she began speaking again.

"Im glad you liked my cover of _**Teenage Dream by Katy Perry**_ but this next song is one of my own and I just wrote it a little while ago about something that happened in my life recently so; I really hope you like it"

**(A/N: I don't own the rights to the song)**

"_I know we don't belong _

_Everyone says it's wrong _

_We come from different ways _

_So I tried to erase everything that I felt _

_That I felt.._

_But then you kissed me and suddenly I don't care any more _

_Something in me tells me you're the one I'm looking for _

_But then you kissed me and suddenly I don't care any more _

_Something in me tells me you're the one I'm looking for _

_From the KISS _

_From the KISS _

_My heart is getting loud _

_I'm trying to keep it down _

_I wish the world could hear _

_But I can't help but fear that they'll take you away _

_You away _

_But then you kissed me and suddenly I don't care any more _

_Something in me tells me you're the one I'm looking for _

_But then you kissed me and suddenly I don't care any more _

_Something in me tells me you're the one I'm looking for _

_From the KISS _

_From the KISS _

_Palm to palm _

_Let lips do what hands do _

_They pray _

_Is it a sin _

_To do what we want to? _

_Don't care where we've been _

_Give me my sin again _

_But then you kissed me and suddenly I don't care any more _

_Something in me tells me you're the one I'm looking for _

_But then you kissed me and suddenly I don't care any more _

_Something in me tells me you're the one I'm looking for _

_From the KISS _

_From the KISS "_

She finshed with her smile wide and her eyes staring into a world all her own, she let herself be lost in the cheers and claps of the crowd, even though she knows she has alot of explaining to do when she steps off of the stage.

"Well as some of you know I'm Krista Lynn and I really hope to be here next week!"

With her final words shes gone, she steps off the stage and the crowd disperses to different locations throught the cafe and watched with little interest as a middle aged woman came on with her rendition of **Mine by Taylor Swift**.

The team met up at the end of Kristiana's second set and waited at a table while Kristiana got a cup of coffee and praise from Layla. They sat in a comfortable silence until McGee broke it.

"So that was uhm interesting?"

Gibbs just continued to sit there and make disgusted faces at his coffee, Tony decided to weigh in with his usual comments,

"So what happened to Krista? I mean first it was Kristiana, then she came back as Krista and now its Krista Lynn, Ziva are you sure shes not crazy?"

Ziva looked a million different things right now, She watched as tony earner himself a head slap from Gibbs.

"Shes not crazy Tony, when she was little; right after we moved she was obsessed with being a singer, she came up with a stage name and little songs even, Krista Lynn was the name she used when she entered these competitions but that stopped a while ago"

"So you knew she could sing?"

"Not like this, and not write like this, its only another secret she has Tony"

They were interupted by Kristiana walking slowely over to the table; she knew she couldnt escape them, it was her chance to explain, But she let it be known that she wasnt happy they were here.

"How did you find me?"

"Kristiana you cant just sneak out I need to know where you are going" Ziva definately wasnt happy...

"Mom calm yourself; I just want to know how you found me, wait you bugged me didnt you? You tracked me? You know thats illegal!"

"How long have you been singing here?"

"None of your buisness, im going home"

"If you dont answer my questions there is no way you are coming back here next week; much less anywhere else"

"Ill just sneak out again, you seemed to notice so well all the other times"

"Try it when i turn on the security procedures they use for Langley"

"Fine"

"Fine what Kristiana dont give me short answers"

"Fine ill answer your questions"

###############HOME####################################

Kristiana and the team arrived home from the cafe in silence after a failed conversation that ended in tony getting Gibbs slapped.

They reached the kitchen and McGee soon ran off to explain to Abby everything that happened; Gibbs left seconds later to get 'decent coffee' as he described it and Tony stood awkwardly while Kristiana jumped up onto the counter and demanded "You wanted to talk? Lets talk"

Tony looked from Kristiana to Ziva and saw hesitation in both of their eyes; this wasnt going to be easy for either of them.

"Z, do you want me to stay..?"

"No Tony I am fine"

Time it took for Ziva's walls to go back up? 0.7 seconds.

"Are you sure? I mean I can stay its not a big deal"

"Tony I have to do this, she is my daughter."

"Okay Z, I am upstairs if you need anything"

Tony started to walk away but then the sound of Ziva's voice caught his ear and he turned back around in time to say

"Tony, thank you"

He went to his room with a smile on his face and did not emerge for the remander of the night.

###############KITCHEN###########################

Ziva and Kristiana sat in the kitchen just staring until Kristiana opened her mouth in true teenage girl form;

"You wanted to talk? Spill it"

"Kristiana, i dont get it tonight was so different then the rest of the day, up on the stage you shined like the little girl i knew last year; you had fun, you had emotions. You lived off the crowd like you did when you were little, You were nothing like that Krista that you claim to be"

"Mom enough, Im not a little girl anymore, im allowed to be who i want, you just dont understand!"

"I dont understand being a teenage girl? Tateleh I was one, i did not just poof in from the sky!"

"Not that, you dont understand why im doing this"

"Then let me! Explain it to me Neshomeleh let me understand!"

"I cant."

"Why?"

"I just, I just cant" With the final words the teenager ran upstairs to her room and as she passed her mother; ziva swore she saw tears in the girls eyes...but in the end that was enough for one night and Ziva sat in the kitchen until the early hours of the morning wondering what exactly Kristiana meant by what she was saying.

**(A/N: I know its a filler but it provided some purpose; Now Ziva has an idea something definately happened to her daughter thats serious enough to cause secrets)**

Leave Reviews :D

please?

**Translations:**

**Tateleh: Little Darling**

**Neshomeleh: Sweet Soul; Sweetheart; Darling**

-Cia


	6. Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER: ALMOST A YEAR HAS PASSED AND I STILL OWN ABSOLOUTLY NOTHING.

A/N: I really do not even know how to explain myself/apologize...to the people that were reading this i am, very sorry. Its been almost a year since i have updated this. I didnt forget about it; I knew it was there...i just completely 100% lost interest and had the worst writers block of my life...SO if you **please** keep reading I PROMISE to try my very hardest to update it.

**3rd Person**

When Ziva awoke the next morning she smelt something, pancakes? She

stared at the ceiling not at all looking forward to the day, so much had to be

done and discussed. She lifted the covers off of herself and grabbed an outfit

out of the few clothes she had left here incase they had to return quickly, a

brown short sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans, she would unpack the rest later.

Making her way down the hall to the kitchen she almost literally walked into

Tony, who obviously had smelt the food...

"Morning Zi-vahh" He tried to sound energetic and careless, but you could tell the whole situation was mind numbing to him; he did not understand.

"Morning Tony"

They walked down the stair case, following the route he had taken last night 

until they reached the kitchen where they saw Gibbs at the counter with a file

in his hand and coffee in the other, and Abby making the suspected pancakes

on the stove,

"Morning Tony! Morning Ziva!" She was way to cheery for this early in the morning.

They replied with a unison of "Good Morning Abbs" before they took the pancakes she was holding out to them.

McGee arrived a while later and Tony made a joke about how he needed his beauty sleep.

"DiNozzo, McGee"

"Yeah Boss?"

"Today you're going to have a little chat with a Dimetri Polzin, the adress is on this paper" This was new, normally it was them getting the adresses for Gibbs, not the other way around...

Ziva just looked at Gibbs, wondering what he was doing today... "Am I with you Gibbs?"

"No, I'm going to the prison; to see Alexander Varavko"

"Gibbs, is that really necassary?"

"Yes Ziver, it is"

With a still semi-full mouth Tony breaks in: "Who is Alexander Varavko? And why is he so important?"

Gibbs stared at Ziva and Ziva looked at Tony, it was obviously up to her to answer. "Alexander is Kristiana's father. He is the reason I left, the only reason."

That last part was added for Tony's benifit, another way to try and assure him

this was in no way his fault. Tony was about to say something but he caught a

glimpse of somebody in the door frome, the figure of a teenage girl, a teenage

girl whos eyes were still red and slightly puffy; what one could guess was

from a night, or atleast a majority of the night crying. It was Kristiana.

Everyone one by one turned around until it was Ziva's turn. When she saw the

state of her daughter, her maternal instincts took over and she had to fix it;

weither Kristiana wanted her too or not. She walked over and gave her a hug,

and the second she did Kristiana disolved into sobs, it seemed like a good

time for McGee, DiNozzo and Gibbs to drop their plates into the dishwasher

and leave.

"Mom, you...you said I had to explain s-sooner of later...r-r-right?"

Ziva looked at her daughter, It was clear she was ready to talk. At this point; anything was progress. "Only when you are ready tataleh"

Kristiana exhaled and moved a piece of stray hair out of her face, she grabbed her mother's hand and ushered her to the couch in the living room. Claiming Ziva had better sit down because she was not helping her up from the floor.

"I don't know where to start mom, it's just, a lot of time since everything went wrong..."

"the begining would be nice...we have the whole day Kristiana"

"It all started the night of Halloween. Do you remember that party I begged you to let me go to? David's?"

"Yes...the night you had that awful bruise on your arm" Already not liking where this was going...

_Kristiana walked into the party on Dimetri's arm...she was a belly dancer and he was in a cheap Hugh Hefner costume. They had both been invited, but only she wanted to be there; The night was fun, until she made the mistake of dancing with her friends._

_"Professional belly dancer Kristiana?" her bestfriend at the time Kelleigh laughed._

_"Ballet, belly dancing, same thing" she laughed back. By this time there was a moderately sized crowd forming around the two girls, just watching. Suddenly Dimetri burst through the crowd, grabbed his girlfriends arm hard and mumbled a were leaving. Kristiana sending confused glances toward Kelleigh._

_When they got outside neither person was in a particularly great mood._

_"Are you trying to be a slut Kristiana?" The words slowed out of his mouth like venom_

_"Dimetri! I wasnt! I promise, I was just dancing with Kelleigh."_

" You were being a slut. And you shouldnt hang out with that girl; shes a bad influence on you"

She was mad, although that may of been an understatement. "I am not a slut. I will not stop hanging out with my bestfriend. She is not a slut. If this is how you act than I am done" As she spoke she was trying to remove her arm from his grasp; that was going to leave a mark, but she couldn't get away and before she knew it there was a hand flying towards her face. He hit her. 

Kristiana was in tearns now, on the couch with her mother silently crying next to her. Neither knowing what to do, so she just went on..

_The months passed on, and Dimetri was finding new ways to hit her everyday; she had started wearing long sleaves all the time and more makeup the cover the marks. Especially after the one night where she smiled at her guy bestfriend that ended in her staying at a friends for a few days for the bruises and the black eye to become less noticeable, he showed up at Kelleigh's that night in a rage looking for Kristiana. Both girls walked down to the front lawn, as nobody else was home. Dimetri got in Kristiana's face about how she wasnt allowed to hangout with Kelleigh_

_"Are you fucking stupid? Do you want to get hit? You're just asking for it now!"_

"That's it Demitri, were done. Get out of here or i'm calling the cops. I'll call the FBI if I have too."

"They wouldn't help you with shit. You're just a dumb slut, a dumb worthless slut."

_"DO NOT underestimate me." With her pulling out her phone and starting to dial what she remembered to be the FBI headquarters in D.C Dimetri left._

"Kristiana, why did you not tell me...I could have helped you. Tataleh nobody deserves that to be done to them..." 

"Mom, thats not it..there is so much more"

_She was walking home from dance one night, stupid idea. but it was just from Kelleigh's since they walked from the studio to her house together...not a big deal. Atleast that's what she thought... She felt somebody was following her, she had learned that much from being a part of the NCIS family for a few year. Every few steps she looked back, hoping she would see somebody..atleast than she wouldnt be paranoid. Instead when she turned back around to continue walking she smacked into somebody's torso._

_"Oh my god! I'm so sorry I wasn't paying attention at all" She muttered her apology a mile a minute._

_"So now you're sorry slut?"_

"Dimetri...what are you doing here? Were you following me?"

She was full on sobbing now, both of them were; it was just as hard for Ziva to hear as it was for Kristiana to tell. "Mommy he didn't answer me, he just pulled me into the alley, he slapped me across the face, he pushed me down. I tried to stop him, I tried so hard; but I-I was so tired. I couldn't do it. I kept trying to scream but he-he had his hand over my mouth; so there was no chance of anyone hearing me."

"Tataleh you dont have to go on...I understand"

"Mom, I do though..I've been this far. He t-t-took off my clothes...and he raped me. Than when he finished...and just lef-left me there."

"But you came home that night..."

"Where else was I supposed to go? I came home...went upstairs. Bagged the clothes and took a 3 hour shower once you went to sleep"

She couldnt believe what she was hearing, she held her daughter with everything she had, mumbling an occasional "i am sorry, i am so sorry" mentally vowing that she would never let anybody hurt her child again. They stayed like that until Kristiana had fallen asleep from crying, Ziva layed her head on one of the throw pillows and put the throw blanket over her small body. She made her way over to the kitchen where her cell phone was, she had a text from Tony, "Are you okay? What happened" She answered with a simple "No Tony, I am not. She told me everything." and called Gibbs.

"Gibbs"

Silently sobbing on the phone she tried her best to speak "Gibbs, I know everything. She told me everything." She spit out the words as fast as she could hoping that everything she just heard was a dream, all the while knowing it was the painful reality.

"Ziver, slow down. What happened? What did she tell you?"

"Gibbs, he hit her. He beat her so much, he tracked her down and he-he-he raped her. He hurt by daughter. He ruined my child" By this she had slit down the wall and was crouching in a ball as if to protect herself herself like she used to do all those years ago..

"Who did? Who did this to her Ziver?"

"Dimetri Polzin."

"Son of a Bitch, i'm on my way Ziver. Just stay there, stay with her. She needs you"

After the last word of the sentance was spoken, Kristiana started screaming and crying in the next room. This was just the begining...

**A/N: Well thats the end of Chapter 6. I really really really hope this atleast makes up for a little bit of everything. PLEASE review. it means so much and give me ideas/feedback/critique it for me, :)**

**-Cia 3**


	7. Chapter 7

DISCLAIMER: I OWN 0% OF NCIS...ALTHOUGH I REALLY WISH I DID.

A/N: Hey guys :) As I was writing this I was in the Bahamas, it was dark and I had food poisoning. So moral of this story; feel special :D Without further adue; chapter seven.

Once Kristiana was out of the room and taking a shower Ziva knew she had to tell them exactly what Kristiana had told her.

"Ziva you know you have to tell us everything she told you, exactly how she told you."

Ziva merely nodded and started to walk back into the living room, only to return a few moments later with a tape recorder.

"I recorded it."

Gibbs and Tony smirked, both with the same thought running through their respective minds; she had been an investigator too long. So with Gibbs leaning against the door frame and Tony hovering protectively over Ziva, she pressed play. They listened to the tape that answered most of the unanswered questions hanging in the air about the entire situation.

Once the tape was finished and all that was heard in the room was the humming of the tape recorder everybody had different emotions running through them. Gibbs was gripping his coffee cup much harder than usual, he grabbed the recorder and walked out of the house. Ziva was staring straight ahead, her eyes could kill. As for Tony; he was pacing back and forth angrier than he has ever been in his entire life that he can remember. Though, this was all stopped when they heard a blood curtling scream followed by loud crying.

Ziva tried to walk off to go attend to her daughter but Tony put his arm out to stop her.

"Ziva, you can't go up there like this"

"I am fine, Tony."

"No, you're not, and you know it. I've got it, let me get her."

He proceedded to walk away from the kitchen, not even giving her the time to protest anymore and walked up to the teenager's bedroom...He opened her door only to find her crying her eyes out and wrapped up in the fetal position in the covers of her bed. He walked over slowly; proceeding with caution and sat down in the part of the bed she wasn't occupying.

"Hey, Kristiana, wake up. It's okay, I've got you"

She answered, between the world of sleep and awake.

"Daddy?" 

He stopped immediately. She had called him Daddy. She had done it once before when she was seven. He was babysitting for Ziva so she could have a "girls night out" with Abby, that night he had let her watch a scary movie, she woke up from a nightmare calling him Daddy. Now that he thought about it, she sounded just as small and vulnerable as she does now. He was going to hurt this son of a bitch.

"Shh, it's okay short stuff. I'm here. Nobody is going to hurt you, ever again."

She was fully asleep again, but he refused to leave her, she might need him. So he sat there, with her head pressed against his chest, humming softly to her. Not seeming to care about the newly forming wet spot on his shirt from her wet, newly washed hair.

**Hudson Inn**

Gibbs walked into room sixty-one at the Hudson Inn. Since they weren't staying there they decided to fully turn the space into their portable bullpen. McGee was on the computer searching for anything he could possibly find on Dimetri Polzin and Kristiana's father, Alexander Varavko. Abby was sitting in the bed watching the television. They still had absoloutly no idea what happened to the youngest member of their 'family'. Abby heard the door creak open when Gibbs arrived.

"GIBBS! Oh is that Caf-Pow for me? What did you get that call about before..? You ran out of here fast..."

"Abbs! You're rambling."

"Sorry Gibbs..."

Abby took her Caf-Pow and retreated back to the bed, only this time facing Gibbs, trying to read his face. McGee sitting in his chair; head turned towards Gibbs. Abby could tell that Gibbs' mind was working overtime.

"Just spit it out Gibbs. What happened?" 

He sighed and took a breath, it was now or never. "She was raped."  
The duo continued to hold their gazes on Gibbs.

"Who was raped Gibbs?"

"Krista" He caught himself "Kristiana. Ziva's kid." Unsure of what to call her now he spit out all three.

Head snapped to attention. McGee's face full of rage, surprising, he never normally got this angry; but this situation is like no other they have ever encountered. Abby on the other hand was in a trance. Although her eyes were still readable; sadness and horror.

"Abbs..."

"Sorry Gibbs, I was just...that's horrible."

He brushed it off, but his guy was telling him that she was hiding something. He knew they had to catch the scumbag, and he had to speak to Alexander Varavko. Non of which seemed possible at this moment.

_**Almost a week later.**_

"Nice to finally meet you Special Agent Gibbs" A sly grin was thrown his way from non other than Alexander Varavko. It took him a week to get the visitation considering the man got himself thrown in the hole. Gibbs just continued to get his file in order while the prison continued to run his mouth.

"And of course you to Special Agent DiNozzo."

Anthony DiNozzo however was not one to keep quiet, "Wish I could say the same Varavko" He didn't like this man. That much was obvious, this was the man that single handedly took Ziva and Kristiana away from NCIS four years ago, he took them away from him. In his mind if this man had not threatened for custody of the child than they wouldn't be dealing with all of the problems now.

"Alexander Varavko. 37. Born in Moscow, Russia; moved to Trenton, New Jersey when you were 10. Criminal Record a couple miles long. Made the NCIS most wanted list in 2002 when you were suspected of murdering 10 marines and attempted to kill another 100. Finally were caught in 2009. For Aggravated assault in the 3rd degree. Two years after threatening your ex girlfriend Ziva David and suing for custody over her than 10 year old daughter Kristiana Lynn David. You have one year left of a 3 year imprisonment"

His face was neutral and showed no emotion at all until the mention of Ziva and Kristiana. "That bitch should not have given MY child a last name of the Mossad. Her name is Kristiana Lynn Varavko. I did not threaten that slut. This girl is my child and her 'mother' wanted nothing to do with her. She wanted to abort her. I would be the perfect father. Better than the ungrateful slut."

DiNozzo could feel his anger rising, he had stood lurking in the corner and crossed his arms and was now gripping them to the point where he was sure that there would be nail marks embedded into his arms once he finally released them. Gibbs looked into his eyes and than back into Varavko's, he began to speak and shuffle around papers in his folder.

"When was the last time you had contact with your daughter Mr. Varavko?"

"I saw Kristiana at the custody hearing 3 years ago. When she was 11, beautiful girl. She looks a lot like my sister when she was younger. The Varavko gene carries strong."

"And prior to that?"

"Never. I have only seen pictures."

"Would you like to see another one?" Tony was confused, what was Gibbs doing; it seemed like he was being nice to this guy, the guy that caused all of this. Gibbs didn't wait for a response before he pulled out 2 pictures from the file. He placed one face down and the other faced up on the table.

"This was Kristiana's school photograph taken this past school year." It was of a young teenage girl, long brown hair, warm brown eyes and very carefully applied makeup and dressed like any other high school girl.

"My daughter would be a prize back in Russia, a gem to the boys. Do big things someday."

Gibbs than flipped over the other photograph. It was from Kristiana's facebook account, It was the girl they had all been staring in the face for the past two weeks. Alexander's face changed from pride of having a 'gem of a daughter' to horror and disgust.

"This cannot be my daughter. What did she do? She will be a whore just like her mother. She is a disgrace to the Varavko name. I am done with her. The slut can keep her. She has brought shame to her family."

"So you are dropping the custody charges against Ziva David for the custody of Kristiana Lynn David?"

"Yes, I want nothing to do with a slut that shames her family."

Just by looking at the duo in the room you could tell one thing immediately. They were pissed off. Anthony DiNozzo did not take lightly people trashing and hurting the people he cared about, the people he loved. He started to advance further towards Alexander Varavko. Not caring if what he was about to do would cost him his own imprisonment.

"You son of a bitch."

Before he could continue the doors to the prison's private meeting room flew open, a normal door would have come clean off the hinges. The door opened to reveal a very pissed off Ziva David with a confused looking Kristiana and an out of breath McGee behind her.

"Boss, im sorry. Ziva found out about the meeting with Varavko today and Kristiana wouldnt get out of the car and they saw the footage. Sorry boss."

"Shut it McGee." Ziva David was not in the mood to hear other people's apologies. "Hello Alexander. It's been a while. Sorry I am to much of a whore to come and see you. I have been busy taking care of MY child. You are a bastard. You know that? That girl over there has been through hell and now she finds out her father doesn't even want her. I have always wanted her. Do not worry about her disgracing you name. You have already done that. You are lucky my mission 15 years ago ended in a pregnancy or you would be dead." All the while of her rant, Ziva was the fact he was bound to the table to her advantage, getting in his face and in his blind spots. Ziva David walked out of that room with a look in her eyes that could kill. Calling Kristiana after her. Leaving the agents amused and worried about the woman they just saw storm off.

Kristiana being the teenager she was didn't listen to her mother and stayed in the room staring at the man she saw only once before, in a court room. When he was trying to take her away. In the prior week she has removed the lip and nose ring, and she had had a salon fix her hair, it reached the middle part of her back and was now a cross between dark brown and black. She had refused to part with the eyebrow ring though. She walked up to the man with the courage of a grown woman, but than again what else would you expect from a David kid? Everyone was staring, as if wondering what she was going to do. They should have probably stopped her but they were to engrossed in what was happening. She reached the man who the only thing she shared was a genetic connection and used her index finger to move his face to look into her eyes and slapped him. She just slapped him. Looking into his stunned face she smiled a smile they had seen many times before, a smile signifying she was happy with herself.

"No daughter of mine slaps her father. You must respect your father. No daughter of mine acts like this."

"Good thing im not your daughter."

She spun on the heel of her shoes and strode out the door with the same confidence she had walking in and all of the agents stared and smiled like proud family members. They could hear Kristiana yelling through the halls for a guard to take him back to his cell now. They were finally getting somewhere with her, with everything.

**A/N: I hoped you liked this chapter! :) Please review, as an early 16th birthday present to me? I thought this was a good place to end the chapter, hopefully you all thought so too. Have a good week everybody :)**

**-Cia**


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER: IM GETTING TIRED OF THESE, BUT I DONT WANT TO GET SUED. I OWN KRISTIANA, AND ANY OTHER UNRECOGNIZEABLE CHARACTERS. THATS IT. I DONT OWN THE SONG FACE DOWN BY RED JUMPSUIT APARATUS (or the slightly changed lyrics)**

**A/N: thanks for sticking with me guys; its been hectic!**

After the meeting ended following the interuption by the David girls the psuedo family was sitting around a booth in the girls favorite diner, making some small talk but avoiding the large elephant in the room. They remained like that until they all finished eating. At that point Gibbs took charge of the situation.

"Abby, McGee. Go find out more information about Demitri Polzin. I need something to bring him in for a talk on."

Gibbs began to walk away when McGee replied to his assignment. "I have searched everything I can Boss. There's nothing we have on this kid.**"**

All during the conversation Kristiana had been staring at her salad, seeming to be having a debate going on in her head. Finally she spoke up above both of the men.

"If I could get him to do something, would that be enough to hold and talk to him for a while?" She seemed timid with her question; knowing she would be in trouble for even mentioning it.

Ziva looked at her daughter the moment the words came out of her mouth as if she was crazy. She didn't want her anywhere near this boy. She was thinking of all the ways to say 'no' to her when Gibbs cut into her thoughts.

"Yes. We could bring him into the Hudson Township Police Department for a chat. Just, whatever you're planning don't be an accessory." As he said this to her he seemed proud, than he did something he rarely ever does, smiled, patted her on the back; called her gutsy and walked out of the diner.

Ziva watched Gibbs walk away; leaving herself, Tony and Kristiana alone at the table. She let the door close before fully turning and staring her daughter dead in the eyes.

"You're not doing it."

Her response was to stare straight back and say "Watch me."

Her mother started to speak but she didn't wait for her response. "Mom, do you remember when I was little and used to say 'I cant do this' and try and give up? What did you used to say to me?"

She let out a breath. Knowing she had been beat. "You can do anything you set your mind to. No matter how big or small. Hard or easy. Its mind over matter." Reciting this to her daughter made her mind flash. Of a little girl trying a new routine or a dance move and failing. Or trying to use the new fight tactics her mother taught her to get the cookie on the table.

"I have to do this, because if I dont. It could happen to somebody else. Than it would be on my hands."

It was a mutual understanding that she would be setting the trap.

It was that night after Kristiana explaining to the rest of the team that the sting would be happening the next night at Layla's cafe after she sand her set. Now she just had to get Demitri to show up. She went for the simple text message approach.

_I need to see you. -Kristiana_

_Knew you would come crawling on your hands and knees bitch. When and where?_

She cringed reading the message, she could feel the harshness in his words. She had come so far and she was not backing down.

_Layla's Cafe. After I sing my set. Come and alone. I've got a surprise for you ;)_

If only he knew what the surprise was. For the remainder of the night she layed in her bed writing a song for the following night.

Finally it was the night. During the day they had informed Layla what was going on; and she was glad to help considering she had her performer back. As she was getting clothes she knew Demitri would hate she heard a conversation break out downstairs. Quickly she settles on Black jean shorts and a Marilyn Monroe tank top. with black heels. She ran downstairs to see Gibbs telling her mother that she was sidelined for tonight, that she was to remain home.

"The only way this is happening is if she's there."

The men looked at her in shock, wondering when she had gotten there and Ziva smirked; looked at Gibbs and Tony and said

"It is settled then."

As usual she got to the Cafe at 8 pm, walking in alone while the agents quietly got into position. Ziva and Gibbs in the storage room next to the stage where Kristiana would lead him if anything happened and McGee and Tony in the crowd.

"Welcome to Layla's cafe everybody. As you all know if Karaoke night! So get ready for a variety of tunes. The first set is a regular here; this girl is going somewhere so you're in for a performance. Krista Lynn ladies and gentlemen!"

As Kristiana walked up to the stage she made slight eye contact with both of the men here to protect here and eyed the door way. As she reached the microphone she saw Demitri walking throught the door; instantly giving her chills. she pointed to the seat at the front as she routinely went through her cover of a song; tonight it was _**Daddy's Girl by Frankie J **_watching her target the whole time, he seemed please with her voice at the moment. She knew the action was going to start when she came to her original.

"Okay everybody, as some of you know I also mess around with song writing so if you don't mind, and even if you do im going to sing one for you right now; its called Face Down and its dedicated to my ex boyfriend Demitri. He's in the front row tonight."

As a light focused on Demitri he seemed a cross between uncomfiturable and curious. In the crowd Tony and Tim didn't like where this was going. Kristiana had refused to tell them how she was planning on pissing him off. Just to be ready.

"So without further adue; Face Down.

Hey, boy, you know you drive me crazy

one look puts the rhythm in my hand.

Still I'll never understand why you hang around

I see what's going down.

Cover up with makeup in the mirror

tell myself, it's never gonna happen again

You cry alone and then he swears he loves you.

Do you feel like a man when you push her around?

Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?

Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end

as your lies crumble down, a new life that I have found.

A pebble in the water makes a ripple effect

every action in this world will bear a consequence

If you wade around forever, you will surely drown

I see what's going down.

I see the way you go and say you're right again,

say you're right again

Heed my lecture.

Do you feel like a man when you push me around?

Do you feel better now as I fall to the ground?

Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end

as your lies crumble down, a new life she has...

One day she will tell you that she has had enough

It's coming round again.

Do you feel like a man when you push me around?

Do you feel better now as she falls to the ground?

Well I'll tell you my friend, one day this world's going to end

as your lies crumble down, a new life she has...

Face down in the ground, she said,

"This doesn't hurt", she said,

"I finally had enough."

During the performance everyone in the crowd has gasped. Tony and Tim were in shock, they didn't think this was what she had planned. Kristiana ended it by turning to face Demitri, stepping off the stage and holding the microphone close to her mouth and whispering. "Did you feel like a man?"

She put the mic back up on the stage as everyone began to talk about the events that just occured. As she came down he was waiting for her with venom in his eyes.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you think you can come here and disgrace me with lies?"

"Lies? Yes because all of my bruises were lies." She laughed at the end of this. He grabbed her arm and headed towards the back room just like she planned. Unnknown to him that there were 2 special agents with an axe to grind behind those doors.

The lights were flipped on and it seemed as if there was nobody in there so he let loose. At first it was as simple as yelling at her while coming increasingly closer, but as she showed him she wasn't backing down he grew angered. The first slap was lighter than they normally were. Gibbs had to hold Ziva back as they could hear Kristiana laughing in his face asking if that was all he had.

"You dumb slut. That was the wrong choice." He punched her in the face, and as she fell to the ground he continued yelling. "You're asking for it. I'll beat you worse than I ever did before. I'll kill you. As you sleep tonight watch your window. Ill be there waiting for you to shift and think you're safe. You are never safe from me."

You could hear a pin drop as a few stray tears fell down her cheeks over her already forming black eye. She broke the silence.

"I think you have enough to hold him for a while."

Demitri looked legitimately confused as he looked for camera's or bugs. Instead he found 2 people replaying the events on a recorder. Gibbs was the first to speak.

"We have more than enough. Assault. plot to attempt murder and stalking"

The teenager looked increasingly pissed off as Kristiana got up off of the ground with assistance of Kristiana; both of them smirking as he was brought out in handcuffs as the rest of the Cafe clapped. Once they were alone Ziva looked at her daughter. Tears starting to form in her own eyes.

"Oh Tateleh, you have a black eye. I'm so sorry you had to go through that again. No man should ever hit a girl."

She cut in, staring hard into her mother's eyes. "He is NOT a man. No matter how hard he tries. And if one black eye is what it took to finally took to get him than i'll wear it with pride. I'm stronger now than I ever was mommy, I'd do it again in an instant."

Ziva wispered a final "That's my girl." before embracing her daughter in the middle of the back room of a Cafe that changed so much. Although, it was still only the beginning...

**A/N: Love it? Hate it? Review and let me know...I worked hard on this chapter is was a little hard to write. So let me know what you think. Love to you all. If you have been abused of know somebody who has been abused know that it is NOT your fault; and it's okay to ask for help. Lastly, if you were the one doing the abusing (I hope non of you are) answer this for me.."Did it make you feel like a man/woman?".**

**-Cia :)**


	9. Chapter 9

DISCLAIMER: I own absoloutley nothing recognizable about NCIS.

**A/N: I am so very sorry about not updating for a while...a lot's been happening; my sister and my nephew moved in with me and with a baby in the house nothing about writing is easy and it doesn't help my computer screen died. Anywho here's chapter 9!**

After Demetri was handcuffed, read his rights and loaded into the back of the charger he was shipped to the Hudson Township Police Department. Tim, Abby, Tony, Ziva and Kristiana took their respectful spots in the observation room while they waited for Gibbs to enter the interrogation room where their guest was smugly smiling towards the two way glass. Before long Gibbs opened the door followed by a detective from the police department.

"Since you're a minor in the eyes of the state we're not allowed to speak to you about anything until a lawyer, parent or guardian is present. We have taken the liberty of calling your mother down here."

In total it took about twenty minutes after the call for Mrs. Polzin to arrive and for Gibbs to once again enter the interogation room.

"Demetri Polzin do you know why you are here today?"

"No"

"The charges being brought against you are, Assault in the third degree, stalking, intention to commit murder, and lastly rape."

Demetri's jaw was tightening with each charge uttered while his mother sat next to him gripping his hand tighter and sweat starting to form on her forehead, her husband should have been here; not her.

"RAPE? What? I didn't rape anybody! Especially that slut! Who they gonna believe? A teenage self-harm and eating disorder girl with a drug addiction or an athletic star with straight A's?"

In the observation room Ziva was getting more and more aggitated and Kristiana simply stared straight into his eyes even though he couldn't see her and repeatedly muttered the phrase 'liar' as he spoke. Gibbs was as calm as ever, like nothing was wrong and this kid wasn't an asshole.

"That Mr. Polzin is not what the evidence says."

Again he jumped slightly and his mother was regretting even more signing the waiver that dismissed the lawyer right for her son.

"What evidence? You don't have shit old man." He said it with a growl to his voice, he was pissed off.

"Shh! Demetri, respect your elders." Although her proclimation was strict, it went unnoticed.

"Okay, lets start with the charge of assault in the third degree and intention to commit murder. We have a cafe full of people as witness's when you started to get angered after Kristiana's set. Then of course we have the wire she was wearing when you brought her into the storage room where Agent David and myself saw it first hand when you screamed at and physically assaulted Kristiana. Oh and we have it on tape. You are definately going to jail for that one when we charge you as an adult."

A laugh was heard from the teenager's mouth, though it sounded forced and kind of trembling.

"My lawyers will get me out of this, just wait."

"Next onto the charge of rape, as the daughter of an investigator Kristiana was taught how to preserve evidence without damaging it, and as of a half hour ago we got the reports back from the clothes Kristiana was wearing the night of the rape. Your DNA was all over it. Along with the garbage from the alley way a hair belonging to you was found in the lace of her underpants, and your finger print was lifted from the button of her jeans. So who are they going to believe? A federal agent with solid proof or a lying scumbag teenager on a power trip."

Listening to Gibbs' voice rise with anger and volume with every word even Ms. Polzin knew she had to call a few people.

"Special Agent Gibbs, I think it's time for us to call a lawyer; we've heard enough."

With that Gibbs exited from the interogation room and walked into observation with the rest of the team in time to see Tony grasping Ziva's hand while they both were latched onto Kristiana and Tim and Abby staring through the glass with pure hatred in their bodies. This case was effecting their family, it was breaking down everything they ever worked to build.

"HEY. We've got him. We have physical evidence. There's no way he's walking on this one. Go back to the house and get some sleep. You all need it."

It took about a half hour to get back to Ziva's house and the ride there was silent, no words were spoken; no music was playing. The team didn't know what to do with themselves, they were scared, angry, confused and even slightly happy at the thought of the outcome; but they all dealt with everything differently ending in the ultimate silence. When they finally arrived back at the house everyone went their seperate ways, Tim and Abby to their respective rooms; Tony to the pool to swim laps and Gibbs to the kitchen for large amounts of coffee. Leaving Ziva and Kristiana standing in the driveway looking at eachother.

"Mom.."

"Yes tataleh?"

"I need to go somewhere, that's not here. I really need to see someone."

"Kristiana, after all that's happened today? not to mention its almost 10 o'clock at night; can't it wait for tomorrow?"

Sighs were placed coming out of their respective mouths as Kristiana said "Mother, I know you don't understand but it can't wait for tomorrow. I need to go now. I'll be careful and I'll be back by one. I promise."

Ziva started too protest and again insist she wait for tomorrow when she was cut off. "He's in police custody mom, he can't hurt me from in there. I'll be fine. I have my cellphone, my pepper spray, and everything you taught me."

"Alright, go. 1am no later. Or im coming to find you."

Kristiana ran to give her mother a hug and a kiss on the cheek and spun on her heel to walk down the long driveway she just came up a few minutes prior. The walk to her destination was relatively short, she had made the journey hundreds of times. She arrived to face a house very similar to her own, a little bit smaller and she walked up the path to the door, but it was Kelleigh's house, there was no doubt about it. She didn't exactly know why she chose to come here of all places, after the night of the rape Kelleigh and Kristiana hadn't spoken. Unanswered texts messaged and calls tore them apart. Adverted eyes in the hallways was the new normal for the girls that had been bestfriends since Kristiana moved to Hudson. She paused a moment before she continued up the path leading to the front door, hesitating before ringing the bell. A woman answered, dressed in a summer dress with her hair in a gelled ponytail. She was beautiful and elegant, she was Kelleigh's mother, and by the look she was giving Kristiana it was obvious she didn't recognize her, and that was expected, the last time she saw her she still had hip length light brown hair and now it was the darkest brown and she dawned new makeup, a new style and 3 holes in each ear along with an eyebrow ring and a nose stud she kept taking out and putting in and lastly the black eye she received from the punch earlier that night. A totally different person.

"Can I help you?"

"Uhm, yes Ms. Burns I was just wondering if I could talk to Kelleigh, is she home?"

"Well, she is but it's a bit late can I ask who wants to see her?"

She rubbed her hand through her hair and stared back at the woman straight in the eyes. "Oh, Ms. Burns; it's uhm, it's Kristiana..."

Ms. Burns head snapped up like it was being pulled by a string,

"Oh my dear, Kristiana, what happened?"

She was getting tired of this question, more than anyone can understand.

"Uhm a lot actually, and I really need to talk to somebody; and well is Kelleigh here?"

"Of course darling, she's up in her room. Just lead yourself up"

On the way up the stairs she debated weither this was a good idea, but eventually she was at her former bestfriends door and she didn't really have a choice. She knocked and Kelleigh opened the door with a shocked look on her face,

"Krissy? What are you doing here..? I thought you left.."

She tried to form words with her mouth, but it just kept opening and closing and eventually she resorted to tears, she'd been doing a lot of that lately.

"Oh Kristiana, what happened? Come in here"

She was led inside the room and she finally managed to say "So much, I just missed you so much. Im so sorry"

"Kristiana I missed you too , but the last time I saw you, you looked like you dropped from a Hot Topic ad. Now your sitting on my bed sobbing after not talking to me for months. What is going on with you? Please don't tell me you're seeing Demetri again. Remember what he did too you."

"Kell?"

"Yes?"

"Just listen? Please, I just need someone to talk too; and you've ALWAYS been here."

For about the next hour the two girls laid on Kelleigh's queen sized bed while Kristiana told her everything. Everything from the beatings to the rape and too the arrest today. Even remembering to explain what happened with her so called father.

"Wait so, you slapped your father. Just slapped him across the face?"

"That is correct." The two girls started laughing, "Good he deserved it, he sounds like an ass, and don't worry about Demetri; he's in custody and from what you tell me he's going away for a really long time."

"I know Kell, I just; I feel like a.." She didn't have time to finish before she was cut off.

"A what Krissy? A victim? You're not. You are a survivor and last time I checked you were the kind of girl that didn't need somebody to tell you that. You are strong. You are still my bestfriend."

"Thank you Kell"

"Now call your mom, and tell her you're sleeping over."

"Okay!"

**A/N: Thanks for sticking with me guys :) I hope you liked this chapter, dont forget to review!**

**-Cia :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN THE THINGS YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE, I DO NOT AT ALL OWN NCIS.**

**a/n: guess who's back?! this girl. sorry guys it took a while, a bout of writers block held me hard...half of this chapter was written on a plane and the other written in haiti. Enjoy chapter 10 :)**

It was cleared with both sets of parents that Kristiana would be sleeping at Kelleigh's that night, it was just like old times. The girls picked up like they never left off, watching movies, doing eachothers makeup and nails, even managing to cover up Kristiana's black eye. Soon though they had watched every movie and were laying in Kelleigh's bed in the dark while just staring at the ceiling.

"Krissy are you awake?"

"Yeah,I'm not tired"

"Me either, wanna do something?"

"Kell, what is there to do? its 2:30 in the morning."

"Do you trust me?"

Kristiana knew from experience that whenever her bestfriend said to trust her it usually meant she wasn't going to like it.

"Kell..."

"Do you trust me?"

"You know I do..."

"Than close your eyes"

Kristiana followed the instructions given to her and soon the lights in the room were turned on and she was told to open her eyes, what she found though, wasn't what she expected. She found her bestfriend dressed in a leotard and a tight bun on top of her head. She knew where this was going and she knew she wasn't going to like it...

"Kelleigh..you know I havent danced since that night...I dont even have leotard or toe shoes anymore.."

"I know..but you used to love it, and do you not remember we are exactly the same size? Put this on and lets go."

She was racking her brain for reasons she wouldnt have to put the dress on when her eyes came across the clock

"It's the middle of the night...the studio isn't going to be open"

What she wasn't expecting was for Kelleigh to pull a key out from behind her back and smirk at her

"Madame Alexandra gave me a key to 'further my talent' now put on the leo and lets go"

Eventually Kelleigh and Kristiana snuck out of the house and to the dance studio, running old routines and solo's. At one point Kelleigh was stepping aside with her iPhone recording her friend, it was everyone's favorite solo of hers and by the way she was moving across the studio it was like she had never stopped dancing it.

It was almost 4am when they stopped dancing, they knew they had to get back before Kelleigh's mom woke up, since the studio was only a 10 minute walk from her house they should be fine. They were walking down the main road, laughing and walking with their arms linked when Kristiana suddenly stopped almost making Kelleigh fall in the process

"What on earth Krissy, why did you stop?" Then she looked forward for the first time to see the reason, and by reason she mean Alicia, Briawna, and Celeste. Otherwise known as the tough self harm drug taking girls that Kristiana temporarily hung out with...and much to the dismay of the girls they were getting closer. Much to close for their likings, they finally stopped when they were surrounding the girls

"Oh well look who it is, lying junkie Krista."

"Well its lovely to see you too Alicia"

Alicia stepped forward from the group, singling out Kristiana, pushing Kelleigh aside

"You dumb bitch, you don't just leave my crew, you ask permission. You especially don't leave when you owe me."

Kristiana wasn't exactly in the mood to deal with this girl, she was the reason why her life went from bad to worse.

"I don't owe you shit Alicia, now get the fuck out of my way"

"Awhhh, little Krista's got an attitude. To bad shes all talk"

Just as she was done speaking Kristiana took her hands and shoved Alicia against the wall and moved past her, grabbing Kelleigh's hand in the process...

"Krissy she's not going to like that you did that..."

"I don't really care right now Kell, just run with me to that alley..they wont leave but i have a plan"

The girls sat in the deserted alley, much like the one Kristiana had been raped in a little over a year ago and stared at the street. After a few moments Kristiana got her cell phone out of her bag and started to dial

"Who are you calling?"

"Shhh"

They waited for the person on the other end to pick up the phone, hoping he was awake

"DiNozzo"

"Tony! Thank god, I thought you weren't going to answer" She sounded scared and was talking a mile a minute, not exactly worrying about staying calm for her friend

"Kristiana? Its the middle of the night...what's going on? where are you"

"I promise to explain later, but I really need your help...theres these girls chasing us, im in an alley on West and Lexington"

"Alright, i'm coming...i'm bringing your mom though"

Kristiana stopped and stared straight ahead and went to run her hand through her hair only to remember it was in a tight bun

"No you cant! Bring Gibbs, anyone but my mom, please im begging you"

"Fine, i'll be there in 5. Stay out of sight until I get there"

She hung up the phone and they waited with their arms locked, true she probably could have taken Alicia down, but there was still Briawna and Celesta to worry about, and they were bigger than Alicia, she couldn't take the chance...especially putting her bestfriend in danger. Like predicted the girls didn't leave, they could be heard searching the streets for them, it was almost like a crappy movie.

"Somebody check the alley, Ithink I saw them go that way"

Shit.

The best way to do this was to probably stay in their hiding place like she was told but she knew that if she did that and they found them before Tony got there it would only be worse.

"Kelleigh, stay here"

"What? Why? Where are you going?"

"To show them that i'm right here, and i'm not afraid of her"

"I'm coming."

"Kell, I love you and all but you're a dancer and you've never been in a fight in your life. You'll get hurt."

"And you have a black eye already. I'm coming with your or we're both staying here."

Kristiana smiled and shook her head at her bestfriend, she knew the small girl had a fire waiting to be lit inside of her, together they made their way out of the alley, just as Alicia was passing it.

"Oh look the baby decided to come out of hiding"

"Alicia you're as dumb as a sack of bricks, you know that?"

"What did you just say to me?" Her girls were crowding around her now, waiting for the sign to pounce, they really all were robots, programmed to follow her every move

"I said, you're dumb. You mess up people's lives Alicia, you really do. You see people that are vulnerable and you pull them in to your life and they believe you're a genuine person because everyone else has shut them out but all you do is make them feel like crap about themselves until they force their fingers down their throat at the sight of their reflection. You make them dependant on drugs so that all they think about is when they're going to do their next line. Eventually you're going to kill somebody, or maybe even yourself. If only the world were so lucky"

She was basically in tears now and everyone was watching her, including the two federal agents standing at their car with the doors open, mouths agape. Staring in rage at the girl they now knew to be the enforcer of the teenager's drug habit. Alicia started moving closer to Kristiana, they could tell she was about to strike any second.

"NCIS STEP AWAY FROM KRISTIANA"

Gibbs and Tony came over with their guns raised, no intention of shooting a child but knowing by the way this girl was acting she wouldn't take them seriously unless she was being threatened.

Gibbs advanced on the girls,

"Against the wall."

"Really old man? Isn't holding a gun on 3 teenagers against ethics or something? Couldn't you be fired?"

"Not if they're armed. Knife, small of your back, and i'm taking a guess here, you have drugs on your person. We have 2 options here."

"Yeah?"

"I arrest you or you get the hell out of here and never both Kristiana or her friends again. You got me?"

Alicia just threw her head back and laughed. "Whatever old man, that dumb bitch is no use to me anyway." Just as she was walking away she was stopped by Gibbs standing in front of her, glaring at her.

"Im serious. One word out of her mouth about you bothering her, I will make sure you're locked up just like Demetri."

Gibbs looked back and saw Kelleigh in the car, and Tony and Kristiana talking, and by the looks of it he did not want to get involved.

After seeing Gibbs and Tony come into the situation Kristiana dropped to the ground sobbing, it wasn't often this happened with her, especially in public but she was fighting all kinds of demons in the past few days and it was finally catching up to her. What she didnt expect was a body to sit down next to her and bring her into his arms

"Thank you Daddy." It came out of her mouth before she knew what was happening and she didn't realize what she said until she felt Tony stiffen slightly behind her.

"Oh my god, i'm so sorry Tony.." that was really the only understandable part though, because when she ramble's its worse than Abby's.

Tony pulled the 2 of them up from the dirty ground, put it pointer finger under her chin and raised her eyes to meet his, she looked embarassed, scared and uncertain

"Hey kid, don't be sorry...any guy would be honored to be your Dad." he took a short pause and pulled her into a tighter hug, not thinking about what he would have to tell Ziva later, softly speaking into her ear like he would when she would have a nightmare. "I would be honored to be your Dad."

She squeezed him into the hug twice as hard, only letting go when Gibbs beeped the horn for them to get into the car, it was close to sunrise and they all needed sleep.

**a/n: eeeep! cute tony and kristiana moment :D I hoped you like it! Please review and annoy the crap out of me until I update, the more annoying the move motivated I am to write :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey guys, not updated as soon as i would have liked but school sadly comes first -_- hope you enjoy :)**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NCIS, AND I SADLY NEVER EVER WILL.**

It was a long car ride home, Gibbs had calmed down his driving to not shake the sleeping girls in the back seat, turning the 5 minute arrival time into a 20 minute return time, and Tony had his mirror down and would glance in it every few moments to check on the girls, Kristiana specifically. Everytime he would do this Gibbs would give him a sideways glance and shake his head, this had gotten way too far; way too fast. The car ride was silent until they pulled up in front of Kelleigh's house

"Girls, wake up. We're at Kelleigh's"

Both girls moved to get out of the car but a hand came back from the front of the car and placed itself on Kristiana's knee, when she looked up she saw it was Tony who was staring at her with soft eyes and an expression that made it known what he was thinking, she looked from him to her awaiting friend and back.

"Kell, i'm actually gonna crash at my place, i'll text you when i wake up okay?"

With a departing hug there was a "be safe" murmered from one girl to the other, just as Gibbs and Tony were going to question what it meant they saw Kelleigh take off across the grass, skillfully avoiding the motion sensor lights and reaching the tree, using her flexibility to hoist herself up into the tree and into her partially open window, at the last moment throwing a smile towards the direction of the awaiting car. Kristiana smiled back at her, knowing she would be explaining this aswell later, while the men in the car rotated between their mouths hanging open and smirking with a shaking to their head. Once they were pulling away from the curb and Kristiana could feel Tony's eyes on her she looked at his reflection in the mirror,

"If it makes you feel any better, we used a ladder to get out...we didn't scale the house like spiderman."

The only response that was given was a silent nod before he closed the mirror, content on knowing the girl was safe in the back seat of the car and she wasn't going anywhere, at least not yet. Approaching the house there was a feeling of dread, what is Ziva was awake? As far as they all knew she had been sleeping when they had left the house but now, it was nearing 5 o'clock in the morning and sometimes she was up by then. They pulled in the driveway and turned the car off, Tony slowly turned around to face Kristiana and let out air from his mouth

"You know if she's awake she's not going to let you go to sleep until you tell her..."

"I know."

They all got out of the car and gathered at the passenger side of the car before heading towards the front door as a group, as they opened the door they came face to face with an angry looking Ziva David, this was not going to be good.

It took all of 5 minutes for Ziva's glare to make Tony and Kristiana retreat to the living room and sitting close on the couch, Gibbs following because he knew there was no way he was getting out of this, even if he tried to 'pull rank'.

"Talk."

Though Tony had stepped up these past few weeks, especially when it came to Kristiana, hell he even admitted that he would love for her to call him Dad. He was still a smart ass.

"About what? The weather? Its pretty nippy out, even for summer. Kinda surprising actually, wish i would have brought more thermals if i'm going to be making this a habit."

Gibbs smirked and Kristiana dropped her head into her hands as her mother got angrier and angrier.

"Alright Mom, before you kill Da- Tony let me explain."

"Oh believe me young lady you will be explaining. Wheither I kill Tony or not."

She bit her lip and continued hesitantly, "Okay, so I was sleeping at Kelleighs..."

"That much I know Kristiana, what I want to know is why you're wearing a leotard and your hair like that, and more importantly why you're being escorted into the house at 05:00 by 2 federal agents. Young lady this is starting to feel like what you were living a couple of months ago." With every word said her voice was raising and by the last word she was full on yelling, the ending factor being that everyone in the house was not in the door way watching the exchange. They watched as Kristiana stood up and projected her anger across the whole room, matching her tone and voice octave for octave and seething word for seething word.

"You know what mother? If you had given me a moment of your precious time I would have explained to you what had happened tonight, it was my full intention from the start. To answer your question I look like this because I was at the dance studio with Kelleigh, running my old numbers that you loved oh so very much. It made me feel more alive than I have ever been. As for your second question, I'm being escorted into my own home by 2 federal agents because on our walk back to Kelleigh's house we were surrounded by Alicia, Briawna and Celeste. But you dont know who they are right? Oh yeah. My former drug dealer and handler and her groupies that are 3 times my size. As for the federal agents? My dad saved me, he and gibbs were there to get me out safely."

Her rage was ended when Gibbs voice rose above both of their and just when Ziva's eyes widened at the mention of "dad", not quite realizing she hadn't meant her actual father...

"HEY. Both of you. Quit it with the yelling. You've woken up the house with the screaming."

He turned to Kristiana directly

"You. Stop screaming at your mother. Do not disrespect her like that. Especially in front of people."

Tony rose to try and defend Kristiana, but before he had a chance to open his mouth he had a teenager hurled at his chest in tears, he forgot about the words he planned to say a second before and worked on comforting the girl that was in every way but biologically his daughter. Just then, Gibbs turned to Ziva as she was taking in the sight of her partner, her ex lover embracing her sobbing daughter.

"And you, stop accusing your daughter of things you have yet to receive an answer too. Past or no past, she's your kid and she already has one parent that made it clear what he wants today. She needs you to be there."

Gibbs walked towards the kitchen mumbling about coffee, and McGee and Abby backed out just the way they came in. Tony kissed the top of Kristiana's head

"Come on kid, lets go upstairs, you need some sleep."

He began to usher her towards the stairs, on his way he met Ziva's eyes; giving her a pleading look he continued up the stairs with Kristiana right in front of him. They arrived at her room and he moved her towards her bed, she made no move to want to put pajamas on. She just pulled back the covers and sunk into the middle of the bed. Tony smiled a bit to himself before pulling the covers up to her chin and tucked her in. He was walking towards the door when he heard it,

_"stay"_

It was faint, he thought it was his imagination from all the years of babysitting and monster scaring.

"What?"

"Please? Just until i fall asleep?"

"Not a problem" He sat on the chair next to her bed and stroked her hand with his thumb, much like a parent would to sooth a child. It took her a couple times of opening and closing her mouth and Tony looking at her funny before she was finally able to say what she wanted to say

"I don't know what I should call you anymore..."

"What do ya mean?"

"I mean, you've always been Tony. You really always were a father figure, and I know it slipped out a couple times when I was really little..but now it's different. I know my father doesn't want anything to do with me, and what you said to me tonight, that you'd be honored to be my dad. It just made me even more undecided, I ju-" Kristiana was cut off by Tony speaking to her in a hushed tone,

"Hey kid, everything has changed since you were a little kid scared of the dark. What I said tonight, I meant it. I would be honored. You can call me whatever you want to call me, I'm okay with whatever you want that to be"

Their eyes locked and she flashed him a famous smile, a thousand watts that could light up a town, a smile he hasn't seen in a while.

"Goodnight Daddy."

"Goodnight kid."

They both closed their eyes and sleep soon over took them, neither knowing that Ziva had been outside the door listening the whole time, and now that she was on the floor staring straight ahead with a few stray tears rolling down her cheeks, not caring if somebody say her. This is how she wanted it all those years ago, with the 3 of them; a family...and through some messed up times and screwed up reasons she was kind of in a way starting to get that now.

**A/N: Thanks for reading guys :) It means a lot! Dont forget to review! :D And feel free to PM me or comment with idea's or points you would loveee to see happen :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT AND WILL NOT OWN NCIS.**

**A/N: Im sorry for the lack of updates. As anyone who reads my profile knows I live in New Jersey, mainly the Jersey Shore and Hurricane Sandy is hitting in full swing; its kind of freaky now. Trees are down and people have died...so i dont know when ill get my internet back after later tonight so to anyone else in Sandy's path...stay safe!**

After sitting on the floor for a good 20 minutes Ziva realized there were things she needed to do and sitting there on the floor was not exactly practical right now. She moved from her spot on the floor, silently apologizing to her mother; where ever she may be, for all the trouble she put her through as a child. She thought that she would be the only one awake after everybody's adventures last night, or this morning rather so she almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Gibbs sipping coffee at her breakfast bar. Ziva moved to grab the biggest cup she could find and filled it with hot coffee before sitting down next to her boss. It remained silent for a few minutes, but silence when Gibbs had something on his mind never lasted long.

"He loves her you know." The statement was the normal length for the functional mute but it packed more of a punch than his regular ones

"What?" She looked genuinly confused when she asked him this

"I said, he loves her"

"I got that part Gibbs, but who?"

Gibbs made his way to the coffee part, this was going to be a long conversation.

"DiNozzo. He loves her, Kristiana, more than I've ever seen him love anyone."

Ziva just sat in silence and looked at Gibbs wide eyed, completely out of things to say; it was safe to say Gibbs saying any of this surprised her. Sure, she knew this; but she didn't want or need Gibbs to know this.

"Of course he does Gibbs, you all do. You have all been the Grandpa's and Aunts and Uncles she never had, if you all did not love her we would not be standing in my kitchen right now."

It was not taking much to agitate the older man now, he had not had enough sleep and not nearly the amount of coffee he would have liked in order to have this conversation.

"Stop kidding yourself David. You know what i'm saying to you. She calls him Dad when she doesn't think enough to stop herself from saying it, and he's upstairs at her request right now holding her hand so she does not have nightmares; and he wasn't exactly complaining about doing it."

She got this hard look in her eyes that Gibbs has only seen a few times in her duration at NCIS, she hated talking about things like this; all of these years and that hasn't changed at all.

"Gibbs.."

His tone quickly switched when he saw her expression

"Ziver, how long?"

"How long what Gibbs?" The ice in her tone still prominent, making this come out as more of a snappy statement than the simple question it was.

"How long were the three of you playing house behind everybody's back, behind my back?"

Her eyes met his, but she couldn't read them. She couldn't distinguish if the look in his eyes were anger or hurt, though the more she thought about it he was probably feeling both.

"The night I disapeared with Kristiana would have been a month."

Gibbs shifted himself to face her directly.

"Did you love him?"

It was the exact same question Tony had asked her that day years ago in Tel Aviv.

" I don't know." And it was almost the exact same answer.

"Well you better figure it out soon David."

"And why is that Gibbs? Why must I do that?" Though in her mind she already knew her answer. She went to move off the her bar stool to get herself another cup of coffee, but doing a double take as she heard his answer

"Because he loves you."

She stood there for what felt like hours but in reality was only a few seconds, opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water

"How would you possibly know that Gibbs?"

"After you left he was a mess, worse than when Somalia happened. I didn't get it until he was drunk in my basement saying he loved the both of you."

Ziva was about to reply but she heard feet on the stairs, and in her experience when there were foot steps you stopped talking. It was Tony. When he came into the room he could sense the tension, it could be cut with a knife.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Ziva finsished rising from her chair she previously sat in and he could swear he could see her eyes tear up. Very Un-Ziva like, but she continued to surprise him everyday.

"No Tony, what is wrong?"

He shit Gibbs a weird look before answering her

"Uh, nothing; atleast nothing she wants to talk to me about. It's just Kristiana woke up and was asking for you. I told her to try and go back to sleep and it could wait until later but she really was very insistant..."

Ziva looked at the clock, and ran a hand through her hair

"She has only been asleep for two hours. You are positive she was not going to go back to sleep?"

Tony put his hands up in a mock surrender

"Hey, don't shoot the messenger Zi, she's your daughter. Meaning, she's every bit as stubborn as you are."

She smiled, turned her head to face Gibbs only to find he was making another cup of coffee. She walked up to Tony with a grin on her face, when she reached him she stood on her tippy toes and whispered the words she knew he would love to hear,

"She's our daughter Tony." and as she was pulling back she left a gentle kiss on his cheek; it was subtle but between the two of them it was a very important meaning that probably nobody else would understand. Leaving him smiling like an idiot unable to move, and her moving towards their awaiting daughters room with Gibbs smirking to himself with a fresh cup of coffee in hand.

Tony replayed what just happened for what seemed like hours and was only brought out of it when he felt the all to familiar palm connect with the back of his head.

"Thank you Boss."

With that he went out the door to find a bagel place, completely forgetting he was still in his sweatpants and Ohio State sweatshirt.

When Ziva got to her daughters room she saw her still in her leotard, but her normally prestine bun all messed up on her head. She moved towards the white shelf hung perfectly on the purple walls and picked up one of the many trophies that had found a home there over the years. It wasn't the biggest at all, but rather the first one she got after being here. When she looked up from the trophy, Kristiana was staring at her with only a look that she could give

"I'm sorry..."

She gave a half hearted smily, placed the trophy back on the shelf and sat next to her daughter.

"For what tataleh?"

"For sneaking out of Kelleigh's and for everything else, for calling Tony instead of you. And uh for yelling at you.."

Ziva blew out a breath of air she had been holding and looked up at the ceiling as if it was going to guide her through this conversation.

"Answer me something tataleh?"

"Anything Mom"

"Do you love dancing?"

"Yes?" She was completely confused as to where this was going.

"Then do not apologize for doing it."

"Okay..?"

"But the Tony thing we are going to have to talk about."

Kristiana shifted uncomfortably in her spot on the bed.

"Uh..what Tony thing?"

"Tataleh, do you not think a mother notices when her daughter starts calling a new man Dad?"

"Oh, that Tony thing..."

Ziva squeezed up against the head board of the teenagers bed and held an arm around her daughter; an act so motherly that anybody that did not know she had a child would think she was incapable of doing anything so like this.

"I know you never had a Dad Kristiana, and I am sorry for that, but if this is just a phase then do not put Tony through it. He loves you Tataleh."

"Mom, just stop. In every way that matters Tony DiNozzo is my Dad. That's why I call him that. Not because of what happened the other day with my bio dad."

Ziva pressed a kiss on her daughters forehead before getting up to leave the room,

"Mom?"

"Yes tataleh?"

"Do you love him?"

What was with everybody asking that question today? Ziva moved back over to the bed where Kristiana was now laying down facing her and as she tucked her daughter in for what felt like the first time in forever. She put into words what she had been thinking forever.

"To the moon and back."

A grin split through Kristiana's face, that saying bringing back many parts of her childhood.

"Now get some sleep tataleh, you have had a long night."

Her light was shut off and her door was closed but she could still feel her daughter smiling through the wall. As she walked down the hall towards her own bedroom she realized one thing, she has always had her family. Maybe it wasn't the standard functional one but it was her's and she had people that loved her and she was finally ready to admit she loved them.

**A/N: Dont forget to review! and most importantly stay safe! Tell me how/ if this storm is effecting you!  
p.s im sorry for all the mistakes in this chapter, im rushing to get it up for you guys...**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I'm back :) after a few stressful and super hectic months and a horible bout of writers block i've been able to bang out a chapter for you guys :) so without further adue, chapter 13 enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT AND SADLY WILL NEVER OWN NCIS. ANYTHING UNRECOGNIZEABLE IS PROBABLY MINE...AND I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE SONGS USED.**

Nobody felt the need to be in a rush during anything that day, except around 4pm when everyone received a text from Tony, simply saying:

"Boss said campfire. Kitchen. ASAP"

Ziva came from her room just as Kristiana was emerging from hers,

"Mom, what is this about?" She was still rubbing her eyes, removing the sleep

"No idea tataleh. We will find out though, yes?"

They walked silently to the kitchen where they were met with Gibbs sitting at the head of the dining table; a full cup of coffee in front of him. While Tony was still at the counter juggling 3 cups of coffee in his hands following the girls to the table. Placing the cups of coffee in front of their rightful owners. Kissing Kristiana on the head as he walked by her and sat in his own seat as he watched the teenager grab a bagel; smiling in pure joy when she found her favorite kind. Finally after a few more minutes McGee and Abby walked in and joined sat in silence for a few moments, eating and drinking what was in front of them. Gibbs finally broke the silence, shedding some light as to why he called the meeting.

"I got a call from the Director about an hour ago."

He took another moment to look at everyone before he continued "The court date for Demetri Polzin is set for 2 weeks from now. We've been ordered to return to DC, immediately. The back-up MCRT team is being hit hard. We'll be back here for the court date."

The team looked around at eachother, Abby looked torn, she didn't want to leave but she wanted to get back to Labby. McGee as usual went with the flow, but Tony and Ziva were rotating between looking at eachother and then looking at Kristiana, Ziva then looked at Gibbs.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean no. I'm not going back to DC. I'm not an agent anymore Gibbs. I don't need to keep switching Kristiana back and forth when being here is helping her. We'll come back after the trial is over."

"You can't stay here. You have a lot of people not happy with either of you. Demetri's whole family. Not to mention whoever Kristiana was messed up in. You need protection."

Ziva and Gibbs had gotten into a staring match that was about to get really bad, with everybody else staring at them enthralled before Tony spoke up.

"I'll stay with her"

McGee choked on his health drink and Abby almost popped the cap off her Caf-Pow because of how excited that made her and Ziva and Kristiana were staring at Tony in shock, Kristiana smiling from ear to ear

"Then it is solved"

Gibbs looked at all of them, a flare of anger in his eyes

"No it's not solved DiNozzo, this doesn't involve you. They'll be in protective custody at my house in DC"

DiNozzo almost laughed at Gibbs "Because that worked so well the last time. Kristiana was 8 and the organization that was suspected of the Petty Officer murder threatened her and that's the first place they looked."

Gibbs had to admit, Tony was right his house had been comprimised a lot lately

"Seperate rooms"

Ziva got red and everyone else was slack jawed. She eventuallly recovered enough to answer

"Of course. You can track our phones at any time. We'll be fine"

Gibbs eventually agreed, realizing his senior agent wasn't backing down anytime soon.

"We leave at 20:00"

Everybody got up from the table, one by one; leaving Ziva, Tony and Kristiana sitting there

"Thank you Tony"

A smile dawned his face "Anytime Zi" After staring at eachother for a few minutes while dinking their coffee, Ziva looked at Kristiana,"Why don't you go and call Kelleigh upstairs, see how she's doing."

In one swift motion Kristiana was up off her chair, bagel in one hand, coffee in the other heading towards the stairs proclaiming

"Oh, you don't have to tell me twice"

Once she was out of the room and up the stairs Ziva looked towards DiNozzo

"Tony, we need to talk"

Tony sighed, looked at Ziva and held up a finger, giving her a 'one minute' sign. He grabbed her cup with his own and refilled them both, returning to his seat placing her cup in front of her

"Okay, now we can talk"

Both of them looked at eachother, not knowing what to say or where to start

"I know what you're thinking Ziva and you're wrong"

She was taken aback to say the least

"What do you think I am thinking Tony?"

"You're thinking that this isn't going to last. That once we finally get back to DC i'm going to hookup with some blonde girl and forget about Krsitiana, dissapointing her just like her father."

Ziva went to cut in but Tony looked at her and cut her off before she could bother speaking

"Tell me that i'm wrong Ziva, tell me that's not what's going through your head"

"I cannot lie to you Tony, it has crossed my mind many times. It worries me that you will go to DC and forget about the girl who calls you her father because of a few one night stands. Why am I so wrong to think that Tony? It has happened before."

Tony was starting to get a little frustrated, why couldn't she just see the bigger picture here?

"Because Ziva, as you said I am in every way her father. Oh! and because I can promise you the only woman I plan on or want to be with is you. No one night stands, just you, me and our daughter. Just like before you left."

Ziva stared at Tony in shock, her eyes had a glassy look to them

"Do not promise things you cannot come through on Tony. Especially about things like this."

Their conversation ended when Kristiana came running into the room, her cellphone to her ear; talking excitedly to who they presumed was Kelleigh

"Mom? Dad?"

"Yes tateleh?" Hesitant to answer her teenage daughter

"Can I go to dance with Kelleigh tomorrow? It's bring a friend day..."

Ziva looked surprised and Tony looked delighted, he loved watching her recitals when she was little, he could only imagine how well she danced now.

"Sure tateleh, if you want to go, you can go"

A moment passed with Kristiana looking kind of uncomfortable

"Uh..Mom?"

Realization hit Ziva like a ton of bricks, understanding what exactly was happening

"You need new leotards's and shoes"

"Uh..yeah.."

"Because all of yours accidentally burned in that mysterious trash can fire a year ago"

Kristiana sheepishly smiled and Tony's mouth dropped in astonishment while Ziva waited for him to recover. Tony eventually did and surprised all of them with what he says next.

"I uh..I can take her. To uhm..to get new dance costume things.."

Kristiana had her mouth slightly open and Ziva had her eyebrow arched in amusement.

"Did you just offer to take a teenage girl shopping for leotards, tights and ballet shoes?"

"I mean, uh, that's what dad's do right?"

Ton was barely sure of himsef when he offered; now that they were both looking at him like they were he wasn't so sure at all

"Sure Dad, that's be great"

She went upstairs, presumably to get ready when Ziva looked at Tony

"Don't let her talk you into anything crazy, 2 leo's and one pair of ballet shoes. That's it."

An hour passed and Kristiana came down the stairs with her hair newly curled with an off the shoulder top and skinny jeans and toms, even though it was summer it still was chilly enough at night for skinny jeans.

"Ready?"

Tony looked from Ziva to Kristiana with a nod he grabbed the keys to one of the cars, walking out to the driveway with his daughter. The ride to the dance store was quiet with the exception of Kristiana giving Tony directions, she's known the route by heart since a month after they moved here, it was her favorite place to be and she loved the owner.

"Are you sure you want to do this Dad? I mean, you don't have to come in..see? There's a Blockbuster right next door."

Tony laughed at her last ditch effort of selling him off to Blockbuster.

"Kristiana, it can't be that bad"

With that they made their way into Mischel's body wear, where all of the fun started. As soon as the door opened the bells above it rang signaling somebody had arrived. She looked around, it looked different; but she hadn't been here for nearly a year; that was to be expected. What neither of them expected was a flamboyant french man power walking towards them, Kristiana's face broke into a wide grin as the man came to a halt in front of her; where as Tony just looked confused.

"Ah! Do my eyes deceive me?! Is this the great Kristiana David in my store once again?"

Kristiana chuckled and wrapped her arms around his neck "Oh Mischel, it's been too long"

"Spin, Spin for me child!"

She did as she was told and spun in a circle for him

"Still as perfect as ever, but that metal in your face, mhm not a good decision. But it works! Who is this with you now? Where is your mom?"

"She's at home Mischel, we're only back for a few weeks and this Mischel, is my Dad; Tony DiNozzo"

Tony smiled, he could get used to that. He looked at the man whose face was glowing, so this was the guy responsible for his daughters many dance costumes

"Oh! Mr. DiNozzo, welcome I am Mischel. I own this store. Now I assume the two of you are here for new leo's?"

A slight nod from Tony made him go off on another rant, gosh this man could rival Abby.

"Good, good. Now you sir sit right there, and let me take care of your daughter for you"

Tony did as he was told and Mischel put his arm around Kristiana, this must have been what it was like before Demetri turned their lives upside down

As the duo walked through the store some of the employee's heads began to turn. His daughter was quite the little dancer in this upstate New York town.

Mischel looked at the girl at his side, she looked different, older, tired, her eyes though are what got him...he could tell what she had been through in the year she took offf from dance was traumatic but he was drawn from his study by her voice

"Mischel, what about this one?"

He turned to face her and instantly smiled, truth is when it came in he instantly thought about her

"Perfect. Now I have a pair of shoes that go perfect with that"

Mischel and Kristiana walked over to where the shoe display was he proceedded to pull out a pair of black ballet shoes, different from everybodies pink ones. Her eyes lit up, they were perfect for her.

"I love them."

An hour later and Tony's slight hesitation they left the dance store with 6 new leo's and 2 new pairs of dance shoes, the traditional pink ones and her prized black ones.

"Your mother is going to kill me."

She stopped writing in her song book long enough to look up and meet his gaze;

"No she won't. She'd be a hypocrite if she did. Now, can you do me a favor?"

Tony stopped at the red light before turning to gace his daughter with an arched eyebrow

"Uh, sure.. anything"

"Can you tell me if what i'm writing is any good?"

She barely gave him time to respond before she started singing,

**"Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street**

**Faster than the wind, passionate as sin ending so suddenly**

**Loving him is like trying to change your mind once you're already flying through the free fall**

**Like the colors in autumn, so bright just before they lose it all"**

He took her pause as that was all she had and took a deep breath

"So was it okay? I know it's just a part of it but I think it's promising"

Tony smiled at her, his mind somewhere else

"Who would have thought that little 8 year old girl sitting in the back seat of my mustang singing her heart out to Hillary Duff would end up being here, singing like that. Writing like that. It was amazing kid."

They drove a few more minutes in silence before reaching their street

"Hey, Kristiana?"

Her head snapped up from her notebook

"Yes Dad?"

"That song, where'd it come from? There's no way you get a song like that from nowhere...Whose relationship was that?"

He pulled the car into the driveway just as he was done asking his question. She just locked eyes with him and smirked

"As if you don't already know"

She got out of the car with her bags and as she passed her mother on the front step she turned back to Tony in the car and gave him another smirk leaving Ziva very confused Tony looked up from the steering wheel to see Ziva in front of him giving him a weird look, he realized what Kristiana was saying. He knew because the sing inspiration was standing right in front of him.

"I told you not to buy her a lot Tony"

"Yeah, uh I remember. But she told me to tell you that you're being a hypocrite"

Her mouth opened and he turned off the car, got out and led her inside the house

**A/N: I can promise you all that the next chapter will be up by monday...tuesday at the latest. I've got it all written in my head and i'm sick so i'll be in all weekend to write it. If it's not i will personally supply the pitch forks for you all. So please, do not forget to review, it means a lot :) Once I get to 80 or a planned chapter I have a surpise for you guys!**

**-Cia**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: As promised, here is chapter 14 for you all :D**

**DISCLAIMER: AS PREVIOUSLY STATED I OWN BASICALLY NOTHING**

As they walked into the house they spotted everyone on the couch watching a movie, with the exception of Kristiana who was purely focused on her notebook, Tony figured she was finishing her song. Ziva looked at the clock it was 7 o'clock, the team was leaving in an hour.

"I'm going to order a pizza from Vincenzo's are there any requests?"

The team looked back at Ziva, they all seemed to have the same answer

"pepperoni and cheese"

Within the next half hour the pizza was delivered and they were all eating in silence, knowing what awaited them once they finished their food. Kristiana kept writing in her notebook waiting for everyone else to finish

"You're going to miss my set at Layla's"

They all looked at her, pausing whatever they were doing; she looked hurt at the realization. Of course, everybody else had realized it long ago but it just clicked for her now.

"It's just that, I haven't seen you guys for 4 years, and I finally got you back and now you're leaving again. I know it's only for 2 weeks but still. I wish you weren't"

Abby was the first to speak, forever the voice of reason in their little family

"Well, how about you sing the song you were going to sing at the set for us right now, so we'll still hear you sing?"

She glanced down at her notebook, only to look back up from her Mom, to her Dad and then fully around the rest of the table, all of them; including Gibbs was staring at her. It was true she had finished the new song a few minutes ago and there were no gaping problems with it, she just needed to sit at the piano

"Well, uh if you guys want...I don't want to make you guys late"

It was Gibbs who spoke up this time, despite him being who he is he probably loves the girl just as much as her parents. He would never admit it but if Kelly had lived through the wreck and into her teenage year he had hoped that she would be just as strong as his god daughter is.

"I'm sure nobody would mind spending a little extra time with you kid, nobody is in a hurry to get back to work in DC. Now go! get ready"

Kristiana smiled and hugged Gibbs as she rounded the table to go into the living room, sitting at the black baby grand piano; everybody following not far behind, Gibbs against the fire place, Abby and McGee on one side of the couch and Tony and Ziva sitting a little to close for Gibbs's comfort on the other end.

"Okay, don't judge me I literally finished this 20 minutes ago. It's about two very important people in my life, who to be completely honest frustrate me to no end with all of the dancing around eachother they do."

She took another moment to straighten up her notebook and go over everything one more time in her end, she took a deep breath and put her hands on the keys

**"Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street**

**Faster than the wind**

**Passionate as sin, ended so suddenly**

**Loving him is like trying to change your mind**

**Once you're already flying through the free fall**

**Like the colors in autumn**

**So bright just before they lose it all**

**Losing him was blue like I'd never known**

**Missing him was dark grey all alone**

**Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you've never met**

**But loving him was red**

**Loving him was red**

**Touching him is like realizing all you ever wanted was right there in front of you**

**Memorizing him was as easy as knowing all the words to your old favorite song**

**Fighting with him was like trying to solve a crossword and realizing there's no right answer**

**Regretting him was like wishing you never found out love could be that strong**

**Losing him was blue like I'd never known**

**Missing him was dark grey all alone**

**Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you've never met**

**But loving him was red**

**Oh red burning red**

**Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes**

**Tell myself it's time now, gotta let go**

**But moving on from him is impossible**

**When I still see it all in my head**

**Burning red!**

**Darling it was red!**

**Oh, losing him was blue like I'd never known**

**Missing him was dark grey all alone**

**Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you've never met**

**Cause loving him was red yeah yeah red**

**We're burning red**

**And that's why he's spinning round in my head**

**Comes back to me burning red**

**Yeah yeah**

**Cause love was like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street"**

The room fell silent for a moment, before Abby started clapping, bringing them all out of a trance. Tony and Ziva were looking at eachother both knowing what the song meant and the reasons for it. They both turned their heads at the same time and locked eyes with their daughter who was staring them down with a purpose. They stood up from the couch together and enveloped her into a group hug much to Gibbs' displeasure and Abby's pleasure. There was no denying it, they were a family, and there was no stopping them.

The next time they looked at the clock it was 8:30 and they were supposed to leave half an hour ago.

"McGee, Abby get your stuff and get back to the cars. We've got to go if we want to get back to DC and get some sleep"

The group departed with sadness, nobody wanting to leave while Gibbs sat in the drivers seat of the car, still apparently having a hard time with this

"Abby, we will see you in 2 weeks. It is not like I am leaving again. I promise you that when two weeks comes I will be here with a whole new supply of caf-pow for you"

It wasn't what anybody wanted to happen but it had to be done, they each departed with hugs and walked out of the front door, leaving Tony, Ziva and Kristiana standing in the foyer; all looking a little lost.

"Mom, they're coming back right?"

Ziva looked at her daughter, though she hides it well she still realizes what leaving all those years ago did to her trust issues, she was just a little girl; she couldn't understand why she suddenly wasn't around her family anymore.

"Of course they are"

Kristiana headed towards the pool to swim a few laps before going to her room for the night while Ziva looked after her in a trance, she probably would have remained like that for hours if Tony hadn't led her back towards the couch.

"Penny for your thoughts Zi?"

She broke from her trance and slightly smiled up at Tony, "Just thinking about the last year Tony"

"Care to share?"

"I am just waiting for I believe the saying is for the other shoe to drop. Since going back to DC everything with Kristiana has been going really well and now she's dancing again."

"but..?"

"but..I can't help thinking about the hell that we both went through with her eating disorder and drug use. Then there was the night I walked into the bathroom to see blood running down her arm. She looked so weak Tony"

There was nothing either of them could do to remove the horror of the past year, especially Tony who wasn't there to witness it.

"Ziva, look at me. We can't change what happened. We can't change any of the things that were done but we also can't live our lives looking over our shoulders to see what might be sneaking up on us. Now, stop worrying for tonight. She's taking a swim and going to dance class. This is as close to normal as we're getting right now."

"You are right Tony. Let's just watch a movie, okay?"

That's exactly how Kristiana found them when she came down the next morning getting ready to leave for dance class, donning her new black leotard with her hair in a signature ballerina bun; old dance bag slung over her shoulder. She found a pen and paper in the drawer by the phone, where her mother had kept it since they moved there and wrote a note reminding them she was going to dance and she had her phone and then walked out to Kelleigh's waiting car.

"Hello Ms. Burns, hey Kell"

Kelleigh looked at her friend and laughed, in an essence making Kristiana very confused.

"Am I missing something here?"

"I'm sorry Krissy it's just a dancer with 3 holes in each ear, an eyebrow stud and a nose ring. It's not the stereotype...but it fits. It's totally you K, and Miss Anna is going to flip a shit."

Kristiana was about to reply to her friend when a voice from the front seat stopped her

"Kelleigh Francesca Clara Burns. Watch your mouth. No man is going to want a wife with a dirty mouth."

With a roll of her eyes Kelleigh gave an automated reply of "Yes Mama" it was comments like these from her mother that reminded Kelleigh she came from an aristocratic family in the city. The rest of the ride to the studio remained silent until they watched Kelleigh's mother pull away at which point they both started laughing

"Kell, does anybody know you're bringing me here?"

"No, now lets go; you know Miss Anna hates it when we're late"

Kelleigh grabbed Kristiana's hand and pulled her towards the studio, hearing an audible groan as she did it.

They walked into the dance studio, Kristiana keeping her head down until they reached The front desk, where every visitor had to sign in.

"Hi Miss Lacey!"

"Hello Kelleigh, just have your friend sign in and you can head back; you're in Studio B today"

Kristiana moved to sign in, she'd been going to this studio for year and she has never once been asked to sign a visitor's pad. She wrote her name in the elegant script Ducky had taught her since she could properly write. Lacey spun it around not really thinking about much

"Alright have a nice day at our studio Ms. Kristia-holy shit."

Her sentance was abandoned once her brain comprehended the name on the page and Kristiana was ennveloped in a hug. When they lived up here Lacey VanGelderen was one of Ziva's closest friends, she along with everybody else at this studio watch Kristiana excel and grow and then spin out of control. No matter the moment, Kristiana always had to be sarcastic

"You know Miss Lacey, that was a bad word and what was it that you and Miss Anna used to drill into us during class? Oh yeah, "classy never trashy kids, stick to your class or you're out on your ash"

"Good to have you back kiddo, now the two of you, Studio B"

The girls hurried back to the studio, because now they were late. They stopped in the waiting area to take off their street shoes and change into their flats. Kelleigh in her well used pink ones and Kristiana in her new black ones. With one last look at each other they opened the door and everything stopped, nobody could see Kristiana as she was standing behind Kelleigh.

"Kelleigh you're late."

"I know Miss Anna"

"You know what your punishment is right, 50 situps, over there; now."

"Miss Anna, it's not my fault! My friend here never really understood the concept of 'don't be late to dance class'"

The dance instructor raised an eyebrow at the young girl as she walked closer Kristiana walked out from behind her friend.

"You know Miss Anna, however blunt my friend might be she's right. It's been a while since i've had to do my hair like this and it took a longer than expected." saying this all accompanied with a signature DiNozzo smirk.

At the sound of the voice many of the students who had been there for years turned around, one in particular was interested in her presence, Dustin Sterling, her dance partner. The one she bailed on a week before nationals, leaving him to drop out of the competition. He stared at her for a moment before walking over to her at an alarming speed, and giving her a hug. Apparently she was forgiven for her stunt. Atleast by him, Miss Anna on the other hand was still glaring at her, clearly unimpressed that she just turned back up here after months of being MIA. Though, that was to be expected; it was her name on the line, her studio at stake. You don't just pull your top kids out of nationals a week before it happens.

"Dustin, back in formation. Kelleigh, situps over there. Kristiana; hallway, now."

The girls looked at eachother, Kelleigh with wide eyes and Kristiana stoic. They made their way to their instructed locations before anybody spoke.

"Miss Anna I-" she didn't have time to finish what she was about to say before Miss Anna cut in

"Kristiana, what the hell are you doing here. Contrary to popular belief you can't just walk in and out of here whenever you want to. There are rules Kristiana, rules I expect all of my dancers to follow. One of them being you cannot just abandon your team, your dance parnter and your studio at the drop of a hat, especially a week before nationals. You made me look stupid out there. Now you have the nerve to walk right back in here, with piercing all over your face; you better have a good goddamn reason for this young lady."

She expected nothing less from her dance teacher, she had let her down and nobody had ever told her why. It still hurt though, she met her eyes; the intense blue ones of her dance teacher and then Kristiana's deep brown ones. She took a deep breath before she spoke,

"I was raped."

Anna stopped mid response and looked her in the eyes, "oh dear god"

During the next 10 minutes Kristiana told Anna everything, in a shortened condensed version of course. She found that the more she said it the easier it got. The less she wanted to curl up in a ball and never come out. By the end of the conversation Anna was much more understanding and wasn't as hostile as before.

"How long are you here for kid?"

"The trial's in 2 weeks, so probably a little over that time. Why?"

"Our annual recital is coming up. You and Dustin never got to perform your routine to E.T; if you're up to it the invitation is open."

"You mean, perform our duet at the recital?" Kristiana was shocked to say the least, Miss Anna always had these things set months in advance and in her experience only changed it once, and she was very unwilling.

"If you're up to it."

"Definintely" They smiled at each other and walked back into the studio. The recital was always on the 3rd of July. That was a little less than a week away. This was crunch time and she knew it. She remembered the routine and knew she could do it. She just wished that Gibbs, Abby and McGee would be there too see it.

**A/N: Thank you for reading and i'm sorry it's a few weeks late but it's up and next chapter you'll see the recital and possibly the court hearing. Please review :) I see the follows and favorites but it would mean a lot if you reviewed it for me.**

**Cia**


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